Stephen V. Sprinkle | Unfinished Lives
The Atlanta City Council has voted 14-0 to award the Atlanta Eagle Bar $1 million in response to a federal lawsuit filed by a private attorney on behalf of 19 clients unjustly arrested in a botched police raid last September, according to a report by WTVM News 9 and the Associated Press.
The night of Sept. 10, 2009, four dozen police crashed the Underwear Night special event at the Atlanta Eagle, slamming patrons to the floor, using homophobic slurs, and arresting and detaining 62 people. Police targeted the gay bar on the pretext of illicit sex and drugs, allegations that were never proven.
The owner of the Eagle, Richard Ramey, went immediately on the offensive against the raid, saying to The Atlanta Journal Constitution on Sept. 12, 2009, ”Our problem is with the way our customers were treated.”
Nick Koperski, a bar patron present at the time of the raid, said in the same article: “I’m thinking, this is Stonewall. It’s like I stepped into the wrong decade.”
The Atlanta Police Department refused to cooperate with an investigation by the Atlanta Citizens Council. Charges brought against employees and patrons either failed to win convictions, collapsed for lack of evidence, or were otherwise dismissed, according to a report by EDGE.
Last March eight employees of the bar were found not guilty of trumped up charges by the Atlanta Police Department in a ruling handed down in Municipal Court.
Investigations into the raid found that the Atlanta Police Department did not have a warrant to raid the bar on the night in question. Mandatory revisions to police procedures will be carried out in response to the settlement.
The vindication of the Atlanta Eagle stands in sharp contrast to the outcome of the Fort Worth Police Department’s infamous raid on the Rainbow Lounge just months before the Atlanta debacle. Like the Georgia raid, all charges against patrons arrested at the popular Fort Worth gay bar have been dropped without comment from the city.
Unlike the Atlanta outcome, however, the Fort Worth Police Department has never issued an apology or admitted any wrongdoing in the illicit raid on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion.
This has been in spite of the public action disciplining officers of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) for their part in the raid, and a formal apology issued by the executive of the TABC. Factors contributing to the non-resolution of the Fort Worth police raid may include a less-than-robust defense of bar patrons by the Rainbow Lounge ownership at the time of the bust, and the less aggressive approach Fort Worth gay leaders employed to bring the city and the police department to account.
Justice for Atlanta, but how about for Fort Worth? We guess the mayor of Fort Worth has more control over the courts, the press, and the gay establishment in North Texas than the mayor of Atlanta. A good thing? You be the judge.
I think the citizens of Atlanta have been screwed by the city. I have been to this club many times and seen things that have embarassed me. There is so much sex and drugs at this club that is is just unbelieveable.
This club is a den of sin. It needs to be shut down and the owners ran out of town
C’mon folks… check your facts. Google “Fort Worth Mayor apologizes…” The city and GLBT members have moved forward from this tragic event, and they did so AFTER an apology. Our relationship is strong, and we are working together to tackle many important issues that impact our community as a whole… No good relationship is ever based on total agreement on every issue. But we work through our differences, learning more about eachother and ourselves every day.
Dr. Sprinkle thank you for your excellent article. I appreciate it.
For those who like his work check out his facebook fan page: https://www.facebook.com/unfinishedlives
“The Atlanta Police Department refused to cooperate with an investigation by the Atlanta Citizens Council. ” Yeah, I recall these law enforcement officers actually refused to honor subpoenas! And later you guide a reader to believe the APD did more than the FWPD? “Unlike the Atlanta outcome, however, the Fort Worth Police Department has never issued an apology or admitted any wrongdoing …” A settlement from the Atlanta City Council is nothing at all like an apology from the APD, much less a relationship developed since then that improves things for citizens, like we’ve acheived in Fort Worth. Maybe the APD offered an apology somewhere in that timeline but I’ve never seen it. Please provide if it exists.
Mike M, you “have been to this club many times”, but if it is such a horrible “den of sin. It needs to be shut down and the owners ran out of town”, then why did you keep going?
I live in Atlanta and used to live in the DFW area. To answer on who apologized, it was the current Mayor who offered the apology. The mayor who was in office and the police chief at the time of the raid were voted out in the following election that occured that same year of the raid. I will state that APD appears to be making improvements like increasing the number of liason they have and of course the procedural changes announced. Hopefully we will see improvements occur with these changes.
I like to base my opinions on facts and not hearsay and misinformation. Being personally familiar with both cities I can not form an opinion based on this commentary. In addition I do not see any reason for the comparison.