Crime & Safety
Lawsuit In Death Of Activist Killed By GA Troopers Dismissed: Report
Troopers fatally shot Manuel Paez Terán, a "Stop Cop City" activist, after accusing them of shooting and injuring a trooper during a raid.
ATLANTA, GA — A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit in the death of a "Stop Cop City" protester who was fatally shot by Georgia troopers after authorities say he shot and injured a trooper during a clearing operation at an Atlanta training center, a media report said Wednesday.
The family of Manuel Paez Terán sued three police officers who they say planned and carried out the Jan. 18, 2023, raid against protesters who had spent months camping in the woods near the construction site of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center in East Atlanta, the Associated Press reported.
The lawsuit said troopers violated Terán's free speech rights and used excessive force against the activist, who then panicked and began firing shots.
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An autopsy commissioned by the family concluded that Terán, who used they/them pronouns and went by the name Tortuguita, was sitting cross-legged with their hands in the air when they were shot more than a dozen times.
Another autopsy report released in April 2023 by the DeKalb County Medical Examiner's Office stated Terán was shot at least 57 times before dying.
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In a ruling Monday, U.S. District Judge Steven Grimberg noted that, as the plaintiffs have acknowledged, Terán fired at the troopers and injured one of them, which the judge said makes the troopers' lethal response reasonable.
Grimberg also said that prior to the shooting, troopers were within their rights to fire pepper balls at Terán after the activist, who was accused of criminal trespass, did not comply with orders to leave the tent.
“Because Paez Terán initiated gunfire with the (Georgia State Patrol) officers, plaintiffs cannot maintain that defendants’ actions were the proximate cause of the use of deadly force that ultimately ended the decedent’s life,” the judge wrote.
Grimberg also ruled that the officers had qualified immunity, special legal protection that prevents people from suing over claims that police or government workers violated their constitutional rights.
Terán’s parents are “devastated” by the judge's ruling, according to their attorneys, Jeff Filipovits and Wingo Smith.
“They feel they are being denied the accountability they deserve,” the attorneys said in a statement. “The records of their child’s death still have not been publicly released. They will be reviewing all their legal options.”
The Georgia State Patrol was part of a joint task force operation to clear people from the site of the training center, which was known to protesters as "Cop City."
The now-opened police and firefighter training center is located near Constitution and Key roads. The property sits on land that spans 385 acres and is owned by the City of Atlanta near Intrenchment Creek.
Protesters clashed with police over the training center's construction and vied to protect the forest on the land. The protests turned deadly the day of the clearing operation.
The Stone Mountain Circuit District Attorney’s Office, at the time, said Terán refused to comply with commands to exit their tent.
Troopers fired pepper balls into Terán's tent as a less-lethal approach, and Terán was then accused of shooting a 9 mm pistol four times through the tent.
Subsequently, six troopers shot back, hitting Terán and killing them, the district attorney's office said.
"The use of lethal (deadly) force by the Georgia State Patrol was objectively reasonable under the circumstances of this case," the district attorney's office said in a past news release, adding no criminal charges would be filed against the troopers.
When the family announced in October 2023 that they were suing the City of Atlanta, family Attorney Brian Spears said the family requested the Georgia Bureau of Investigation release to them the full investigative report in the killing of Terán.
Atlanta Police previously released body camera footage of the shooting's aftermath, but a family attorney said the GBI blocked the department from releasing any further video clips relating to the shooting.
Smith said the FBI sent a letter to APD requesting the department stop releasing videos related to the shooting. He added Attorney General Chris Carr's office also wrote a letter to the city advising the department did not have to release the records to Terán's family.
Terán was born April 23, 1996, in Venezuela. They graduated magna cum laude from Florida State University with bachelor's of science in psychology and an associate's in sociology, their mother previously said. Belkis Teran said they would suffer anytime it seemed harm was being done to the environment.
Violence erupted in downtown Atlanta after Terán's death as it angered demonstrators who were accused of setting a police car on fire and damaging businesses and construction equipment as part of ongoing protests against the building of the training center.
These actions ultimately led to a sprawling racketeering indictment against 61 protesters in 2023. A Fulton County judge tossed the landmark case on procedural grounds last year, but Carr is appealing the ruling.
Though the movement has receded since the filing of the racketeering charges and the opening of the training center, the name Tortuguita is still invoked at anti-police protests, and the activist's image has become a common sight in murals and flyers across Atlanta.
The Associated Press contributed reporting and writing for this article.
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