6 Atlanta Police Officers Charged After Viral Video Showed Couple Yanked From Car

TOPLINE

Six Atlanta police officers face criminal charges, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced Tuesday, after a video surfaced of the police pulling two college students out of a car during Saturday night’s protests, with one tased despite seemingly not resisting.

KEY FACTS

Critical quote: 

“I feel a little safer now that these monsters are off the street and no longer able to terrorize anyone else,” said Messiah Young.

Key Background:

Demonstrations have raged throughout the country since George Floyd died in police custody last week, with protests gripping Atlanta for the past four days. Atlanta has announced a 9 p.m. curfew, and, on Monday, police officials said they had made 298 arrests connected to the protests since Friday, with more than half of them (157) occurring on Saturday. Gov. Brian Kemp announced that approximately 55 were arrested Monday for being in the roadway in downtown Atlanta.The community group Buckhead Coalition estimates that the upscale Buckhead neighborhood had sustained $10 million to $15 million in property damage as of Monday. 

Further Reading:

6 Atlanta officers charged after students pulled from car (AP)

Hundreds arrested, curfews announced, damage estimates coming in (AJC)

Atlanta Mayor Fires 2 Officers Who Tased Man In ‘Shocking’ Video (Forbes)