Lawyer calls for bodycam video after officers throw man to ground

ATLANTA — Atlanta police are being questioned about a video that shows officers push a man to the ground after telling him to leave a store or he'd be arrested.

Channel 2 Action News has learned Antoine Harris, 29,  was told that he couldn't enter a food store on Joseph E. Boone Boulevard.

His attorney told Channel 2's Carl Willis, Harris asked why was he threatened with arrest and then walked away, but was slammed to the ground and arrested anyway.

Harris was charged with being a pedestrian in a roadway and obstruction.

"The officer comes up, pushes him, and then the other officer pile drives him into the ground, so I don't see him fighting with the police, arguing with the police," attorney Gerald Griggs said.

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"(The charges Harris faces) are minor misdemeanors. Why did the police interact with him at all?" Griggs asked. "Because we have people right now on Peachtree who are jaywalking. I don't believe that law enforcement would pull up and dump them on their head."

An APD spokesperson told Willis the department is investigating to find out if any department policies or procedures were violated.

Griggs wants the department to take their investigation a step further by releasing the body camera video of the incident.

"It usually helps the police officer. In this case, Idon't think it will, but I think APD has some questions to answer," he said.

Griggs said he wants to continue productive talks with the police chief but believes incidents like these need serious attention.

"Atlanta has escaped the national conversation but there's still an issue of policing that dates back a long way in this city and we don't want to revisit it," Griggs said.

Cox Media Group