While looking, they pushed around the 60-some patrons and employees, forcing them to the floor for up to an hour, calling them nasty names, searching them, taking their driver’s licences and running their names for warrants.Ī lawsuit filed by Grossman sought an apology and carried a demand - that the department undergo new training concerning search and seizure law because it was clear many officers hadn't a clue what was kosher and what wasn't.Ī few months later, the law department under a new mayor, Kasim Reed, refused to cut a deal on the suit, vowing to fight on. In September 2009, during the last (real) mayoral election, Atlanta police raided a gay bar on Ponce de Leon Avenue and made ham-handed policing a red-hot campaign issue.Ī couple dozen cops, including those from the now-defunct Red Dog unit, descended on the Atlanta Eagle looking for both sex and drugs.
We didn't do anything wrong, the police did.' Elissa Eubanks, go back to the start. 'Out of 62 people that were in the bar harassed,we probably have 15 people who have come forward, because they are scared,' Robert Kelley, an owner of the Eagle who was also in his underwear, said. 091021 Atlanta-Protesters stand, some in their underwear, at the intersection of 10th Street and Piedmont Avenue in Atlanta, Ga Wednesday, to make a statement about the recent raids at the Eagle club.
