Federal lawsuit filed against Atlanta police over raid at gay club

[Better Believe It]

Federal lawsuit filed against Atlanta police over raid at gay club
November 24, 2009

Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- A federal lawsuit was filed Tuesday against Atlanta police over a September raid at a gay club, on behalf of 19 patrons who say they were forcibly searched and detained.

The suit, filed by the gay-rights group Lambda Legal, names Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington and 48 officers who were at the Atlanta Eagle bar the night of September 10.

"The Atlanta Police Department dispatched about 20 to 30 officers to the Atlanta Eagle, including its 'Red Dog' unit dressed in SWAT team gear," according to a statement from Lambda Legal. "But inside the bar, the APD found no public sex, no drugs or illegal weapons." No patrons were charged with any crime, the organization said.

During the raid, patrons were made to lie face down on the floor while background checks were run on everyone, the statement said. "Eagle bar patrons heard anti-gay slurs; were forced to lay in spilled beer and broken glass; and one was forced to lie on the floor even though he had injured his back in the Iraq War."

Some of the patrons were restrained with handcuffs, and officers used excessive force, including shoving some people to the floor and kicking others on the floor, the lawsuit says. Authorities searched everyone on the property, seizing their driver's licenses or other identification, the suit says.

"These actions were taken without particularized reasonable suspicion or probable cause to believe that any individual patron, let alone every person at the establishment, was involved in criminal activity whatsoever," said the suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.


Geoffrey Calhoun was at the gay bar at the time of the raid and said some officers didn't identify themselves as police.

Read the full article at:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/24/georgia.gay.club.lawsuit/index.html

[Hassin Bin Sober]

1. Fucking pigs.

They need to go after their personal wealth. Ruin their lives.

[RKP5637]

2. Lets them practice there macho crap, anti-gay slurs, pushing and shoving to

intimidate and the whole bag of crap they do to assert their homophobic manhood under the law. Some can be such asses.

[Solly Mack]

3. k/r

[PM Martin]

4. Police need to be personally liable for their wrong doings.

[napi21]

5. I'm sorry thiis happened in Atlanta. I live about 35 miles north

and I;m not gay, but I've see so much racisism since we moved here from Pgh. Pa. I'm an old white lady, but this kind of treatment is just WRONG!

I don't like to think about the actions of gay sex, but I also don't like to think about the actions of some straight but, to me, offbeat sex either.

You may call me names for what I think, but I also believe that as long as you are happy with what you're doing, go for it.

[LiberalFighter]

6. How far up the chain did this get approved?

[David Zephyr]

7. K&R.

Thanks for the story and the link, Better Believe It