Parse the words of Mayor Kasim Reed’s apology over the botched police raid of the Eagle – as well as the resolution offering an apology pending before City Council – and you’ll realize this: They are sorry, but only if you sue them.
That leaves about three-dozen patrons at the Eagle during the raid with nothing for the trouble of being abused by Atlanta police officers and having their Constitutional rights violated as they were put face down on the bar floor for some time. It’s no wonder Chris Lopez has since filed a complaint with the city. Will there be others?
That’s a question clearly on the mind of city attorneys and Reed. The former pushed the City Council’s Public Safety Committee this week to narrow the scope of a resolution from Council member Michael Julian Bond to include only the 26 plaintiffs (and two businesses) in the federal lawsuit that was recently settled. And Reed, as he stood before reporters on Dec. 8, had this to say: “I feel pain for anyone mistreated in our city and apologize to each plaintiff in the Calhoun case.”
So Reed and the city continue their stubbornly slow approach to putting this shameful ordeal behind them. In the process, they are sending this message: If you want an apology, sue us. That’s the same approach that just cost them – and city taxpayers — $1.025 million.
