APD Chief Says She Didn't See The Officer Charges Coming In Email

ATLANTA, GA — In an email sent Tuesday night, Atlanta Police Chief Ericka Shields tells her department that she didn’t expect criminal charges to be made against the six officers involved in Saturday’s arrest of two college students.

In a viral video, they are seen using excessive force on 20-year-old Spelman College student Taniyah Pilgrim and 22-year-old former Morehouse College student Messiah Young. The video captures the officers surrounding the students’ car, then tasing them, before pulling them out.

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard on Tuesday announced the charges the officers face, later that day, but according to an email obtained by WSB, Chief Shields said she was caught off guard.

“Our intention was to carry out an administrative investigation into the actions of the other officers on scene; criminal charges were never part of any discussion that I had with the Mayor or her administration,” part of the email reads.

The charges have also caused the department to lose support from multiple agencies, Shields said.

The two Atlanta police officers who are seen in the video using force to arrest the students were fired. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced the officers' termination on Sunday.

She said a total of five officers were involved in the incident, but after reviewing the video, it was decided that two would be fired and the other three placed on desk duty. The officers who were fired have been identified as Ivory Streeter and Mark Gardner, who were both members of APD's fugitive unit, said Atlanta police.

The charges announced by Howard are as follows:

• Ivory Streeter: Aggravated assault on Pilgrim (used taser); pointing or aiming gun on Young
• Mark Gardner: Aggravated assault on Pilgrim (used taser)
• Lonnie Hood: Aggravated assault on Young (used taser); aggravated assault and simple battery on Pilgrim (used taser)
• Willie Sauls: Aggravated assault on Pilgrim (pointed taser); criminal damage to property (car)
• Armond Jones: Aggravated battery of Young (forcefully thrown unto paved street); pointing or aiming a gun at Young
• Roland Claud: Criminal damage to property (car)

A $10,000 signature bond has been set and the officers have until Friday to turn themselves in.