LOCAL
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Friday, June 19, 2020 3A
New N. Hall
Bells Mill
Bridge open
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
The new Bells Mill Bridge in North Hall
opened Thursday, June 18.
Traffic was limited to one lane early on
for last-minute work, but motorists were
soon able to use the two-lane bridge to cross
the East Fork Little River.
The bridge is on Cleveland Highway/
U.S. 129. The project called for replacing
the old structure with a 661-foot bridge.
The old bridge will now be torn down.
The replacement is being done in tan
dem with the new Longstreet Bridge, which
opened to traffic in January farther south
on U.S. 129.
The $34 million bridge replacements
have an overall official completion date
of September 2020. Road crews often have
a “punch list” of items to complete after
opening new projects.
Georgia legislators have proposed nam
ing Bells Mill Bridge after fallen Hall
County Sheriffs Office Deputy Nicolas
Blane Dixon.
Senate Resolution 844 seeks to dedicate
the bridge as Deputy Nicolas Blane Dixon
Memorial Bridge and to authorize the DOT
to put up signs at the structure.
Dixon was shot and killed July 7 while
chasing burglary suspects.
SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
The new Bells Mill Bridge is open to one lane of
traffic Thursday, June 18, north of Gainesville.
Photos by NICK WATSON I The Times
Willie Mitchell, longtime member of the Gainesville City Schools’
board of education, takes the microphone June 18 at Newtown
Florist Club’s open-air conversation. The event allowed people
in the community to share their experiences with criminal justice
officials, who will in turn speak at a July 2 event.
The Bright Teens United For a Future, or B-TUFF, performing
arts team perform before the Newtown Florist Club’s open-air
conversation. The June 18 event at the midtown pedestrian bridge
brought roughly 100 people to listen to community voices regarding
potential criminal justice reform.
CONVERSATION
■ Continued from 1A
■ A citizen oversight com
mittee to review use-of-force
incidents when the arrestee is
harmed
■ Ban no-knock warrants
■ Ban chokeholds and estab
lish penalties for officers violat
ing the policy
■ More training on de-esca
lation, with the recommenda
tion being one to two hours
annually
■ Prioritizing minority
hiring
■ No more military gear to
law enforcement
■ Requiring officers to
intervene “when they know
ingly witness and contribute to
another officer’s violation of
law enforcement policy”
■ End of civil forfeiture,
a process by which property
seized during a criminal inves
tigation can later be sold at auc
tion and fund law enforcement
agencies
■ Requiring law enforce
ment to provide identify
ing information and a card
with instructions on filing a
complaint
■ Protocols on eliminating
“unconscious bias and racial
profiling”
■ Encouraging patrol offi
cers to “use discretion when
making traffic stops to limit
arrests”
■ End “criminalization of
poverty,” which includes poli
cies regarding urban camp
ing, panhandling and cash bail.
They also request hiring social
workers and mental health
partnerships to assist in calls for
service, as well as having court
fines and fees on an income-
based sliding scale
■ Making statistics on train
ing, use of force, arrests and
other information publicly
accessible.
The second part of the open-
air conversation will be July 2
at the same location, where law
enforcement and judiciary offi
cials will share their concerns
with the community.
Johnson said she was con
cerned that people’s feelings
may get hurt “and they’re going
to feel condemned or indicted.”
“It is easier to be in this place,
listening to what we have lis
tened to today, than to be in
Atlanta or Minnesota or Seattle
or any of those other communi
ties where people are not listen
ing and they’re not talking to
each other,” Johnson said.
The first speaker of the night
was Mary Bowman, who intro
duced herself as a “conservative
Republican who understands
my white privilege.”
Bowman referenced the
death of George Floyd, who
was held down by the knee of a
police officer for roughly eight
minutes and 46 seconds in a
widely circulated video.
The 46-year-old man died
while being detained by police
in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Four officers were fired, and
criminal charges have been
filed.
“Watching this video has
made me and many others in
our country lose trust in our
police departments, so how
do we rebuild trust here in our
community? How do we keep
our community and our police
officers safe here in Gainesville
and Hall County? How will our
city police chief and our county
sheriff handle these types of sit
uations if they occur here in the
future?” Bowman asked.
Bowman advocated for
Gainesville Police and the Hall
County Sheriffs Office to imple
ment a citizen’s review board.
Shayla Bush discussed the
issue of community policing,
where she felt there are officers
all along Athens Street while
there is less of a presence in
other parts of town.
“It’s easy to say, ‘Well, the
statistics show that there’s more
crime in that area.’ But if we’re
overpolicing, then the crime
shouldn’t be there anymore,”
she said.
Bush called for better rela
tionships between law enforce
ment and the community.
ENGLISH
■ Continued from 1A
“Adam did not appear to be armed, and in any
event, he was not holding a gun or other weapon
in his hands when the officers encountered
him,” according to the lawsuit. “Adam was not
brandishing a gun or other weapon in a threaten
ing manner when the officers encountered him.”
The lawsuit claimed it is unknown
whether English saw the officers approach
ing or understood any verbal commands
to stop “because plaintiff has only been
allowed to view a portion of a video of the
incident.” The plaintiff does allege, how
ever, that “Adam was shot in the back by two
officers as he continued to walk away from
the officers at a normal walking speed. ”
Gainesville Police officials did not imme
diately respond to a request for comment.
The investigation regarding the officers’
use of force is still under review in North
eastern Judicial Circuit District Attorney
Lee Darragh’s office.
A Georgia Bureau of Investigation inves
tigative report document said Fowler and
Hernandez fired their weapons, though at
least five officers were involved in the inci
dent, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims the officers are not
entitled to any qualified immunity as “the
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Prior to joining the Diagnostic Clinic, Dr. Lee worked
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Dr. Lee is Board Certified in Endocrinology and
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Dr. Lee is now accepting new patients.
To schedule an appointment,
please call 770-536-9864.
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1270 Friendship Rd • Ste 100 • Braselton, GA
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law being clearly established in September
2019 that mere possession or suspected pos
session of a potentially lethal weapon which
is not being used in a threatening manner is
no justification for the use of deadly force. ”
The lawsuit alleges a violation of English’s
Fourth Amendment rights, battery, negli
gence and a claim involving the Americans
with Disabilities Act, as the plaintiff alleges
the officers “were aware that Adam English
suffered from some form of mental illness.”
Under the ADA claim, the officers “failed
to make reasonable accommodation for
Adam English’s disability by deciding to
escalate the encounter into a use of deadly
force rather than to utilize de-escalation or
other nonlethal strategies which should have
been part of their training.”
It is also alleged that Fowler “was involved
in another excessive force incident just four
months earlier in which he deliberately
rammed the vehicle of a fleeing motorist in
violation of departmental policy, for which he
should have been terminated or reassigned
but was instead given a short-term suspension
and told to undergo additional training in judg
mental use of force,” according to the lawsuit.
The Times has also reached out to Gaines
ville Police to get information on this inci
dent and what follow-up took place.
The lawsuit is seeking damages, attorney’s
fees and court costs following a jury trial.
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