Lawyer For Cop Suing Roswell Rejects Help From Controversial Group

ROSWELL, GA -- The lawyer for a former Roswell cop suing the city after she was fired for flying the Confederate flag outside her home said he will not be partnering with a controversial group in his plan to represent the officer.

David Ates, attorney for former Roswell police Sgt. Silvia Cotriss, said he will not accept the help of Southern Legal Resource Center, an organization that works to expand the "inalienable, legal and civil rights of all Americans, but especially America's most persecuted minority: Confederate Southern Americans," according to its Facebook page.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has classified the group's co-founder, Kirk Lyons, as a "neo-Confederate."

"We felt that their presence was distracting from the real issue in this case," Ates said, adding that issue is whether flying the Confederate flag as a public servant is protected free speech.

Cotriss, a Woodstock resident, was terminated earlier this year from her position with the Roswell Police Department after it came to the agency's attention that she had the battle flag hoisted on a pole outside her home.

According to the lawsuit filed Dec. 14 in the United States District Court's Northern District of Georgia, the city received a complaint via email on July 11 that the flag was displayed outside Cotriss's home on West Wiley Bridge Road in unincorporated Woodstock.

The person who sent the email to Police Chief Rusty Grant said he believed one of his officers lived at the home due to a Roswell patrol vehicle parked in the driveway of the residences.

"The complainant alleged that he felt due to the current race, police, and human relations issues, the officer should not be allowed to display such a flag, despite her individual right to free speech," the lawsuit states.

An officer with the agency for about 20 years, Ates said there has never been any indication that his client harbored hatred towards anyone.

According to the attorney, Cotriss's husband initially flew a flag that had the Confederate and Bike Week logos on the fabric. It was a way to commemorate where the couple met, he said.

However, Cotriss's husband passed away earlier this year, and the woman's roommate planned to remove the flag due to it becoming tattered.

As her roommate went outside, a neighbor of Cotriss offered her a new Confederate flag to fly "in honor of her husband." There was no racial intent behind the decision to fly the flag, Ates stated.

“She simply displayed it in memory of her husband and a symbol of her Southern heritage.” Ates added.

The attorney said both flags flew a total of two years before someone took issue with their presence. The agency, the lawsuit stipulates, never asked Cotriss to remove the flag nor informed her of the allegations.

On July 14, Cotriss was terminated for violating the department's conduct for on- and off-duty officers. As a result, Cotriss is seeking to be reinstated to her position and to be compensated for any loss of pay and benefits.

City spokesperson Julie Brechbill previously told Patch that it does not comment on personnel and legal issues.

Ates told Patch it could be late next year before the case is heard before a federal judge.

Image via city of Roswell