Family of Atlanta deacon Tased during traffic stop suing tow truck driver, company in his death

ATLANTA — An attorney representing the family of Johnny Hollman is suing a tow truck driver and his employer, S&W Towing.

The 11-page lawsuit details how he became involved in a deadly police encounter that killed Johnny Hollman, 62, in August.

Hollman was a church deacon and grandfather. He had just left Bible study when he was involved in a fender bender on Aug. 10.

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The officer who responded, Kiran Kimbrough, has since been fired.

Kimbrough claimed Hollman got combative, asked for a supervisor and refused to sign a ticket until Kimbrough threatened to cuff him.

Kimbrough never called his supervisor but radioed in for a tow truck to remove Hollman’s car from the street.

Eventually, the encounter escalated to handcuffing and Kimbrough firing a stun gun at Hollman.

When the tow truck driver, Eric Robinson, arrived, he jumped in to help the officer.

Police body camera video shows him sitting on Hollman’s head saying, “I ain’t done this [expletive] in so long, I forgot what it was like.”

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Harold Spence filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Hollman family.

“What possessed him to join in on this?” Spence told Channel 2′s Courtney Francisco.

“You walk away, and in a profanity-laced moment of congratulating, you say to yourself, ‘I’ve still got it.’ You’ve got what? The ability to help further disable an elderly gentleman? The ability to sit on somebody’s head and neck after he said 13 to 15 times, ‘I can’t breathe,’” Spence said.

“You can’t have a company like that servicing the citizens of Atlanta. It would seem appropriate for their relationship with the city to be terminated,” Spence said.

The lawsuit says the company was negligent in hiring Robinson and in training him.

Channel 2 Action News is waiting for the Mayor’s Office to respond to requests to comment about terminating that contract.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has not said publicly if she plans to file charges against the tow truck driver.

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