New push to clean up homeless camp under bridge

HALL COUNTY, Ga. — The homeless have less than two weeks to leave a camp set up under a Gainesville bridge that police say has been a problem for years.

One man we interviewed said he was beaten so badly, he almost died. Daniel Smith said this is a long time coming.

The large homeless camp is located just a few feet away from the train tracks under the Queen City Bridge in Gainesville.

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Daniel Smith said he used to come here and help feed the homeless until one day, he said, they were disrespectful to his daughters.

“There was a few gentleman grabbing themselves and exposing themselves, trying to get my daughters to come over there,” said Smith.

Smith said four men attacked him with baseball bats and boards when he asked them to show some respect.

“I was in a coma nine days and in the hospital for 30 days,” said Smith.

Smith said no one has been charged in the incident. We asked Gainesville police Sgt. Kevin Holbrook about the case and he said Smith came with a weapon.

“There’s a very different account of events. The case is being worked as a self-defense case. The victim (Smith) was the primary aggressor,” said Holbrook.

Holbrook says this case, though, is one of hundreds.

“It’s gotten out of control. It’s really out of hand,” said Holbrook. %

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The homeless men and women have until Oct. 21 to take down their tents and move.

Police said they will be putting up signs and barricades, after receiving a request from the Georgia Department of Transportation stating they own the right of way and the homeless men and women have to go.

Police say the city will help the transportation department clear the area of the tents, tables and mattresses. Their hope is to turn the space into a park.

Residents in the camp told Channel Two Action News that they don’t know where they are going to go. They said they will pray. One man said he will move to a shelter and it will be much better for him.

Daniel Smith says he’s relieved.

“They have been there for years and years, and nobody has done anything,” said Smith.

Gainesville police said they are working with nonprofits to help the men and women who live in the camp find a shelter.

Many in the area are concerned, though, that they will keep coming back or move to a nearby bridge and set up another camp.

Cox Media Group