ICYMI: City Offers Settlement to Baton Bob for 2013 Midtown Arrest

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The Atlanta City Council Public Safety Committee has approved a $20,000 settlement to a federal lawsuit filed by a street performer who claimed his civil rights were violated during a 2013 arrest in Midtown.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the settlement with “Baton Bob” Jamerson was approved during a meeting on Tuesday afternoon, and will shortly head to the full council for final approval. A city attorney said during the meeting that the city would incur more financial harm from defending their position in court than settling with Jamerson, the AJC says.

Baton Bob was arrested in Midtown on June 26, 2013 while he was celebrating the U.S. Supreme Court’s lifting of the federal ban on same sex marriage outside Colony Square. Jamerson, a popular street performer, can usually be found in Atlanta dressed in a tutu and twirling his trademark baton.

On that day in June, police arrested Jamerson, then wearing a wedding dress, and Fulton County jail records show he was charged with simple assault and obstructing a police officer.

Jamerson’s lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in February, claims that after the AJC published a report on Jamerson’s arrest, a police lieutenant told the handcuffed man that he would be released on a signature bond if he allowed officers to log into his “Baton Bob” Facebook account and post a positive message about the department’s handling of his arrest. An officer logged into the account while the lieutenant watched, the lawsuit claims.

After the APD completed an internal investigation of the incident, the lieutenant was given a five-day suspension, the AJC said. The officer who wrote the post was given a one day suspension. The officer later resigned from the force. Charges against Jamerson were dropped in December of 2014.