Sung Kim, the officer who fatally shot Jimmy Atchison during a police raid, was finally indicted on criminal charges four years following the murder, per Fox 5 Atlanta. Atchison’s family rallied outside the Fulton County courthouse Monday to celebrate the step toward justice and also demand “more than just an indictment.”
President of the Georgia NAACP Gerald Griggs said on the courthouse steps if it wasn’t for the consistent protests and marches, Atchison’s family would have never seen this victory. Ex-officer Kim was indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter and violation of oath by a public officer, the report says. The Atlanta Police Department didn’t discipline Kim following the shooting and conducted what Atchison’s aunt called a “sham” investigation into his actions, per 11Alive News.
The most APD did was re-evaluate their role on federal task forces, requiring all local police to wear body cameras. Though, body camera footage is only one factor toward the greater concern of police reform in the city. Even an indictment may not be enough for real change.
“- we want more than just indictments, we want convictions,” Griggs said. “Atlanta has a police brutality problem and Jimmy’s name underscores that.”
Read more about the case from 11Alive News:
In October 2019 the family said they met with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to hear the results of their investigation into the incident. They said at that time they were told Atchison was given two conflicting commands by officers in the room — to come out with your hands up and not to move. They said he was following the command to come out when he was shot.
Atchison was unarmed, and a witness later came forward to dispute that any robbery had ever occurred.
A federal civil rights lawsuit, filed in federal district court in 2020, alleged that the officers entered the apartment of Atchison’s infant son and the child’s mother without a search warrant, and then pursued Atchison to another apartment, threatening the tenants with arrest if they were not allowed to enter without a search warrant.