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MOTHERSUES
FORANSWERS IN
DAUGHTER'S JAIL DEATH
LOCAL, 8A
LEE MAY: COMMISSIONERS
'CANNOTGET ALONG'
LOCAL, 12A
PRESIDENT
CARTER
DISCUSSES EBOLA
EDUCATION, 17A
The Official Legal Organ ofDeKalb County, GA. Serving East Atlanta, Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur, Doraville, Dunwoody, Lithonia, Pine Lake, Tucker and Stone Mountain.
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thechampionnewspaper.com
SECTION A: VOL. 24 NO. 41
TheChampion
APRIL 16 - 22, 2015
ist Place
General excellence
Award winner
Georgia Press Association
‘Better Newspaper Contest’
2007, 2009-2014
500
Police-involved shootings were the reason law students from John Marshall Law
School rallied at the DeKalb County Police Department April 8. Photos by Andrew
Cauthen.
Protestors rally at
police department
by Andrew Cauthen
andrew@dekalbchamp.com
Approximately 30 protestors gath
ered outside the DeKalb County Police
Department April 8 to protest the shoot
ing by police of an unarmed Black man
in March.
“I could not imagine getting the
phone call telling me your child has been
killed, your child is gone,” said Dawn
Garrison, a Gwinnett resident who is a
member of the Black Law Students As
sociation at John Marshall Law School of
Atlanta.
“I could not imagine that phone call
and, because of that, I am here,” said
Garrison, a mother of two sons, 31 and
13. “I am here for Anthony Hill because
I don’t want another Anthony Hill in
DeKalb County. “I don’t want another
one of our men dying foolishly.”
The rally was organized to protest
police-involved shootings such as the
March 9 shooting death of Hill, 27, of
Chamblee. He was naked and unarmed
when he was shot by DeKalb County
Police Officer Robert Olsen, who re
sponded to a call about a man acting
“deranged,” knocking on apartment
doors and crawling on the ground, Ce
dric Alexander, deputy chief operat
ing officer for public safety, stated in a
March news conference.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation
is looking into the incident to determine
whether Olsen, who is White, acted
properly when he fatally shot Hill, who
was Black and described himself publicly
as bipolar.
“I’m here today because I’m a law
school student,” Garrison said. “If we
don’t speak out, if we don’t say anything
then who’s going to say something?”
Garrison said the officer had options
other than shooting Hill.
The officer “had two feet; he could
leave,” Garrison said. “He had a patrol
car that he could drive. All of these
things he could have done, but he chose
to pull his gun out and take that woman’s
child from this earth. That is why I am
here. I am a mother and I don’t want that
phone call.”
Eric Echols, an investigator for The
Chestnut Firm that investigated the Hill
case, said, “I’m not against the police. I
was a military police officer in the U. S.
Marine Corps, so I support them. The
police as a whole are not bad. They are
the first responders in any given situa
tion when you need help.”
Echols said police officers respond
ing to primarily minority areas need to
See Rally on page15A
MARTA is
by Carla Parker
carla@dekalbchamp.com
MARTA is asking its custom
ers to contact their congressional
leaders to let them know how im
portant transportation is to them.
MARTA held a “Stand Up
For Transportation” rally April 9
to raise public awareness about
the country’s transportation in
frastructure funding crisis. The
transit system is urging the U.S.
standing up for transportation
Congress to pass a new, multi-year
authorization bill that will provide
funding for the Highway Trust
Fund to pay for the current federal
transit program, and the growth of
that program for transit and high
way infrastructure needs.
MARTA CEO and Gen
eral Manager Keith Parker said
MARTA spends an estimated $900
million a year on its operating and
capital program, and nearly $120
million of that comes from the
Transportation supporters hold up signs during the “Stand Up For Transportation” rally. Photos
Se MARTA on page 15A by Carla Parker
64 116
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