ATLANTA — A family is asking the Atlanta Police Department to fire an officer after viewing the body camera video of their loved one’s last moments alive.
Johnny Hollman, 62, died Aug. 10 after APD confirmed Officer Kiran Kimbrough tased him.
APD said Hollman was involved in a fender bender and called 911 to report it.
Authorities said in a statement the next day that Hollman was agitated, uncooperative and resisted arrest. The statement said the officer Tased him and a witness helped the officer cuff Hollman.
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At that point, APD said the officer realized Hollman was unresponsive. Paramedics rushed him to the hospital where a doctor pronounced him dead.
Family and supporters held two marches to protest and demand to see body camera video.
Friday afternoon, APD shared it Hollman’s children, wife and their attorneys at City Hall. Channel 2′s Courtney Francisco was at a news conference held by the family and attorneys after seeing the video.
Attorney Mawuli Davis described what they saw. He said Kimbrough’s camera shows he decided to issue Hollman a ticket, but Hollman disagreed that he was the driver at fault.
Davis said Hollman is seen in the video asking for a sergeant to respond to discuss.
“The officer tells him you’re going to sign the ticket, or you’re going to jail,” said Davis. “He [Hollman] attempts to reach out to sign the ticket, the officer grabbed him by the arm and begins to take him into custody and take him to the ground, and you can hear Mr. Hollman begging for him to stop.”
Davis said as the officer was Tasing Hollman, “He’s saying, ‘I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. Help me.’”
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Family called on APD to release the video to the public.
“Let the world see what you did to this deacon,” said Davis.
Hollman was Chairman of the Deacon Board at Lively Stones of God Ministries in Atlanta.
The church’s preacher, Royce Tillman, was in the crowd of supporters at City Hall Friday.
“I would be very surprised it would reach that,” said Tillman. “He wasn’t aggressive.”
Minutes before the family described what they saw in the body camera video, APD sent out another statement that read,
“At the direction of Mayor Dickens, APD conducted a top-to-bottom evaluation of the interaction with Mr. Hollman, including a review of the department’s Standard Operating Procedures and training curriculum. As a result of that review, there have been updates to the standard operating procedures of APD regarding traffic citations, to allow officers to write “refusal to sign” in the signature line, rather than make an arrest.”
The statement ended by saying, “The Atlanta Police Department continues to strive to earn and retain the trust of the communities we are sworn to protect and serve. Our thoughts are with the Hollman family.”
APD said Friday that Officer Kimbrough was hired on March 18, 2021 and is currently working in an administrative assignment during the investigation.
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Georgia Bureau of Investigation is leading the investigation into Hollman’s death. It will present evidence to the Fulton County District Attorney who will decide if the officer’s actions were justified.
“While this officer needs to be arrested, the culture of Atlanta Police Department has to change,” said Davis.
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