The district attorney serving the city of Atlanta has filed charges against six police officers after a dramatic video showed them pulling two young people from a car during protests over the death of George Floyd.
The Saturday night incident was posted on social media and shown on local television news. Twenty-year-old Spelman College student Taniyah Pilgrim and 22-year-old former Morehouse College student Messiah Young were driving near downtown Atlanta as protests were taking place.
In video taken by bystanders and in police bodycam video, two of the officers, Mark Gardner and Ivory Streeter, can be seen pulling the two from their car and shocking them with Tasers. Throughout, the couple can be heard screaming and asking officers what is happening. Streeter and Gardner were fired Monday.
At a news conference, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced Streeter and Gardner are being charged with aggravated assault. He said Streeter faces an additional charge of pointing or aiming a gun at Messiah Young.
Howard has also charged Officer Lonnie Hood with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of simple battery; Officer Willie Sauls with aggravated assault and criminal damage to property; Officer Armond Jones with aggravated assault and pointing or aiming a gun; and Officer Ronald Claud with criminal damage to property.
The Associated Press reports Atlanta Police arrested more than 150 protesters on Sunday.
