photo credit: Katherine Welles // Shutterstock

During an Atlanta protest over the weekend, a video went viral of officers using excessive force when trying to arrest a black man and black woman. The two were not fighting back, nor were they causing an issue. Cops can be seen pulling open the car doors, busting out the windows, flattening the tires tasing them, and snatching them out of the car.

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says the police used excessive force while arresting Messiah Young and Taniyah Pilgrim, students at Morehouse College and Spelman College respectively. Bottoms said Pilgrim was released without charges and that she was ordering the charges against Young to be dropped.

“Use of excessive force is never acceptable,” Bottoms told reporters Sunday. Shields called the footage “really shocking to watch” and apologized to the students.

Now identified as Mark Gardner and Ivory Streeter, the investigators were part of the Atlanta Police Department’s (APD) Fugitive Unit. On Saturday, they were assisting with civil disturbances in the city when the incident involving Young and Pilgrim occurred. Both investigators were men of color.

Here is the video. On LIVE TV the APD just broke car windows, slashed tires, tazed both passengers and arrested both passengers for NOTHING. RIPPED THEM OUT OF THER CAR. #AtlantaRiots #ATLFORUS #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/9XFDEdq7qr

— blm (@imactuallynina) May 31, 2020

Written by Clarke Jones

Source: WNCT