Atlanta mayor says 2 police officers fired over excessive force in protest incident

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) announced the firing of two city police officers on Sunday over an incident involving alleged excessive force that occurred during a protest Saturday evening.

Bottoms told reporters at a news conference that the incident, which was captured on video and shows several officers dragging two people out of a car, also resulted in three other officers being placed on desk duty pending further review of their actions, The Associated Press reported. 

The unidentified couple is seen on the video screaming and demanding a reason for their arrest as they are led away by police officers wearing riot gear.

Two Atlanta police officers are finally fired after body-camera footage showed they used excessive force in protest incident. Please tell me how anybody thinks this is remotely okay?! Or why so many cops are covering their badge numbers and body cams pic.twitter.com/pWHvmbILaj

— Sytrux (@Sytruxx) May 31, 2020

Bottoms said Sunday that charges were dropped against the woman, and the man was released. No further information about his charges were immediately available. Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields, who also spoke at Sunday’s news conference, reportedly said that the video was “really shocking to watch.”

Protests erupted in Atlanta and numerous other cities this weekend following video of the death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd, who was killed in police custody after an officer was seen with his knee on Floyd’s neck for several minutes. That officer has since been arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. Several other officers were also fired.