On Oct 24th, all charges were dismissed for activists facing felony charges related to a Cop City protest in 2022. Seven people were arrested at a protest where students and supporters were accused of marching into a Georgia State University campus building which was under construction. They were protesting against Brasfield & Gorrie, the general contracting company which is also building Cop City.
Police body cam video which has now been made public shows that APD Deputy Chief Jessica Bruce (a Major at the time) insisted on fabricating felony charges against the protesters. The arresting officer made clear that there was no basis for felony charges, but Bruce pushed back, asking officers to find “anything we can” to crack down on “this group”, meaning the political movement against Cop City.
As a result, the protesters were given ridiculous charges of Felony Burglary and Felony Property Damage, despite a total absence of evidence to support them. The serious charges caused the protesters to be held in jail for almost a week before the Atlanta Solidarity Fund was able to assist them in getting bailed out.
The activists faced the prospect of long prison sentences and fought the case for 2 years. Now with just a few days before trial, the prosecutor has dropped all charges at the last minute. This is a clear indication that both police and prosecutors understood that the charges could never hold up in court. Criminal charges were used as a weapon to punish and terrorize critics of the police.
One of the defendants gave the following statement:
Last Tuesday, my charges were dropped.
My trial date was set but less than a week before it started, they decided to drop the charges instead.
I got got on 7/29/22 along with 6 others after a Stop Cop City protest. We were charged with burglary (felony), property destruction (felony), and obstruction (misdemeanor). We were held in Fulton County jail for 5 days until our bail was set at $9,000 each.
We’ve been fighting our case for over two years now. It hasn’t been an easy road but with the support of the Sol Fund, SCHR, jail support, our lawyers, our therapists, our friends and loved ones… we fucking won. Fuck them, they didn’t know who they were messing with.
We’ve already filed paperwork for a civil suit. We’re suing the City of Atlanta and a handful of individual officers for wrongful arrest, malicious prosecution, and retaliation for exercising 1st amendment rights.
The ways that this shit will fuck with you… your mental and physical health, your schedule, your decisions, your ability to trust… cannot be understated. But we must fight for what we believe in, and we must fight back against political repression.
This is not the first dismissal of false charges against Cop City protesters, and it won’t be the last. With each new development the picture becomes more clear: There has been a coordinated campaign over the past two years by police and prosecutors to suppress protest in Atlanta.
Right now many Cop City protesters still face political prosecution and decades in jail, including 61 people indicted on RICO charges (among them 3 Atlanta Solidarity Fund organizers). State and local officials have shown a pattern of bringing extreme charges against innocent activists, to send a message that anyone who opposes the police agenda can become a target for violence and incarceration.
The Atlanta Solidarity Fund provides support to protesters like this because we know fighting bogus charges is not easy to do alone, especially from behind bars. We want to see the targets of political prosecution make bail, get access to strong attorneys to win their criminal cases, and go on to demand accountability from those who violated their rights – both in court and beyond. When we as a community refuse to allow activists to be isolated and bullied, when we empower them to defend themselves, it makes protest safer for everyone.
We’re proud to play a role in this fight, and inspired by the strength and conviction of these protesters continuing to speak out even after being attacked. We look forward to the outcome of the civil suit.