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Atlanta City Council Approves $2 Million Settlement for Students Electrocuted During Protests

Theo

Atlanta City Council members approved legislation Monday that would provide a $2 million settlement in the case of two college students who were pulled from their car and tased by police in the spring of 2020. The incident occurred downtown as thousands of people protested the death of George Floyd in Atlanta and across the country.

Students Messiah Young and Taniyah Pilgrim were stuck in traffic shortly before 10 p.m. at Centennial Olympic Park Drive and Andrew Young International Boulevard on May 30, 2020, when they were confronted by Atlanta police.

Body camera footage shows officers smashing the driver’s side window before using their Tasers on the couple, dragging them out of the car and throwing them to the ground.

A citywide curfew was in effect at the time, following days of protests in downtown Atlanta in response to the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. Lawyers for Young and Pilgrim said their clients did not realize they were violating the curfew.

The two men filed a civil lawsuit in 2021 against the city of Atlanta, former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and the officers involved in the arrest: including Ivory Streeter, Mark Gardner, Lonnie Hood, Armond Jones, Willie T. Sauls and Ronald Claud.

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