ATLANTA — More alleged victims have come forward with allegations against the Atlanta Police Department's Red Dog Unit.
Channel 2's Eric Philips broke the story in January about two men who say they were publicly strip searched by Red Dog officers. On Friday, Philips spoke to two more men who claim Red Dog police crossed the line.
"They didn't tell me why they came to me, why they approached me," Vance Perry told Philips.
Perry was at the Overlook Apartments on Hollowell Parkway last November when Red Dog officers confronted him. According to a police report, Perry reached for his gun, but he denies that.
"At that time, one of them grabbed me, another one stomped me on top of my head," Perry said. "While I'm laying on the hood, the police officer grabbed the back of my pants and pulled my pants down so my rear end was exposed."
The scene unfolded while his young daughters were watching. He was initially charged with various offenses including obstruction of an officer, but they were all dropped.
"I felt like somebody else needed to come forward to say something about what these officers are doing, because they can't keep doing it," Perry said.
More Men Come Forward With Red Dog Complaints
Another man, identified only as Clarence, said he was groped in an encounter at an area department store.
"The way they were grabbing on me, I felt like I got raped," Clarence said.
He said Atlanta officers, some with the Red Dog unit, groped him in the dressing room of a Ross store in northeast Atlanta in November of 2007. He's still emotional about it.
"I could never forget that night. No man should touch another man like that," Clarence said.
He said he was suspected of shopflifting, and that officers reached down his pants to search him. They found nothing, and he was never charged.
"I don't know what they were doing, but it felt like they were fondling me. That's what it felt like," Clarence said.
He filed a complaint with APD internal affairs and an investigation was completed. The officers involved denied groping him. More than a year later, the department sent him a letter saying the officers did nothing wrong. Clarence maintains that the officers abused their power.
"I'm just going to touch you where I'm going to touch, and if you put our hands down I will put you in handcuffs," Clarence said.
After Philips broke the original strip search story, APD's police chief announced that the Red Dog Unit would transition into a new unnamed unit over the next couple of months.
WSBTV
