Choose Refuses to Toss Civil Rights Claims Over Atlanta Police Officer’s Deadly Capturing of Teen Who Stole His Automotive

An Atlanta federal judge declined to deny civil rights claims against the city of Atlanta and an officer who fatally shot a teenage boy driving away in the officer’s unmarked car, despite meeting former Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields and violating claims the Georgia Open Records Act.

According to court records, Officer Oliver Simmonds was parked his car at a gas station in southwest Atlanta on January 15, 2019 and was filling up when 18-year-old D’Ettrick Griffin got behind the wheel and drove off.