Family of man killed in encampment sweep files suit against City of Atlanta

The family of a homeless man killed during a city-led clearing of a homeless encampment in January filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Atlanta on Friday Cornelius Taylor was crushed by a Department of Community Works front loader on Jan while inside his tent on Old Wheat Street near The King Center and Ebenezer Baptist Church According to internal city emails cited in the lawsuit an emergency cleanup request was made so that visiting dignitaries and the media wouldn t see the encampment during Martin Luther King Jr Holiday events The lawsuit filed in Fulton County Superior Court by Taylor s cousin Darlene Chaney and son Justin Taylor Garrett accuses the city of failing its ministerial duty by not checking if anyone was inside the tent before moving heavy equipment It seeks unspecified punitive damages and alleges both negligence and premises liability according to a record from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution If someone had taken seconds to look inside this tragedy could have been avoided declared attorney Harold Spence at a Friday news conference at the Davis Bozeman Johnson Law office in Decatur An autopsy by the Fulton County anatomical examiner uncovered Taylor died from blunt force trauma consistent with being struck by construction machinery While an initial police account suggested a manageable overdose family attorneys criticized it for downplaying the happening The episode sparked outrage and led to the formation of the Justice for Cornelius Taylor Coalition which has since worked with the city to relocate unhoused residents In June a Homelessness Requirements Task Force appointed by Mayor Andre Dickens in the wake of Taylor s death made a series of recommendations including the establishment of a new centralized office that will lead the city s homelessness strategy The post Family of man killed in encampment sweep files suit against City of Atlanta appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta