The Atlanta officers who dragged and tased two college students amid a George Floyd demonstration have been reinstated and compensated for their time off.
Ivory Streeter and Mark Gardner were caught on video using stun guns on Spelman College student Taniyah Pilgrim and her boyfriend, Messiah Young, while they sat in their vehicle during the BLM protest on May 30. Footage of the encounter also captured the officers dragging the young adults out of the car before arresting them. The cops were detained, charged with aggravated assault and eventually fired for their use of excessive force; four other involved cops were placed on administrative leave.
On Monday (Feb. 1), the Atlanta Civil Service Board ruled in favor of Streeter and Gardner, who have since been rehired and given their badges. They will also collect back pay for the time they were unable to work. Their attorney, Lance LoRusso, questioned former Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard’s ruling over the use of tasers and claimed he rushed the criminal charges against his clients for political reasons.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis requested a new prosecutor in the case after Howard used videos of the incident and the Rayshard Brooks’ shooting in his campaign ad.
“I believe his conduct, including using video evidence in campaign television advertisements, may have violated Georgia Bar Rule 3.8(g),” she wrote in a letter to Attorney General Chris Carr. “I believe both matters create sufficient question of the appropriateness of this office continuing to handle the investigation and possible prosecution of these cases that the public interest is served by disqualifying this office and referring the matter to specially appointed prosecutor.”
Howard has since been removed from his role as a prosecutor while the GBI conducts an investigation. The case is now in the hands of Carr’s office.