ATLANTA — People are gathering to remember a homeless man killed in northeast Atlanta. Today is one year since the man died when a city worker ran over him while clearing an encampment.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
One section of Old Wheat Street in northeast Atlanta is a short, one-way strip. It acts as an alley to the buildings it sits behind. Allen Hall used to live there in a tent, and it’s where he met the man who became a good friend, Cornelius Taylor.
“This is just my way of letting him know that we still love and miss him,” Hall said.
One year ago, on Jan. 16, 2025, the City of Atlanta’s Public Works Department drove heavy machinery down that street to clear out a homeless encampment ahead of events to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The tractor ran over rows of shelters, and 46-year old Cornelius Taylor was sleeping in one of them and was killed.
TRENDING STORIES:
- 911 caller thought HVAC workers were gunmen, sparking ‘police emergency’ at Emory, CDC
- Nurse at Fulton County Jail smuggled in drugs, had relationship with inmate, records show
- WATCH: Father drove off, left 2 children on I-85 after hit-and-run, police say
“We need to always remember his name and ensure that something like this never happens again. In order to do that, we have to make sure the policies that drove that bulldozer are forever changed,” Tim Franzen said.
Franzen, with the American Friends Service Committee, says some progress has been made.
Thirty-one people who lived in the homeless camp now have places to stay, with social services to help them. Hall is one of them.
However, memories of what happened to his friend remain painful.
“His life mattered. His life mattered. It’s my way—and our way—of letting him know that he’s not just another statistic out here in these streets,” Hall said.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Next week, Advocates for the Homeless will go to Atlanta City Hall to ask city council members to change the name of Old Wheat Street to Cornelius Taylor Street.
©2026 Cox Media Group
