Follow Up: Victims Rights Lawyer Praises Smyrna Police

Editor's Note: Recently Smyrna-Vinings Patch provided coverage of attorney and Vinings resident Mark Bullman's presentation to the Smyrna Golden K Kiwanis Club. The president of the Crime Victims Advocacy Council, Bullman told Kiwanis members and guests that the FBI is opening an investigation into cases of police misconduct within the Atlanta Police Department.

At the time when contacted, the FBI offered a no comment on the matter to Smyrna-Vinings Patch. This week, the FBI reached out to S-V Patch with a statement:

“The FBI is unaware of the extent of collaboration that Mr. Bullman has purported to have undertaken with the FBI; and furthermore, it is not the practice or policy of the FBI to pronounce in advance, confirm or deny the existence of any investigation.”

In a related story this week, Atlanta Police Chief George Turner placed seven officers on administrative duty following an investigation into the 2009 raid of , a gay bar in Midtown. See here for full coverage from Midtown Patch.

Like many civic clubs in the Smyrna-Vinings area, the Smyrna Golden “K” Kiwanis Club hosts regular meetings that feature dynamic and informative speakers.

Three weeks ago, the organization welcomed attorney and Vinings resident Mark Bullman, a partner at Glaser, Currie and Bullman in Atlanta, to address the group. Bullman is a former Athens Police Department officer and Clarke County Deputy Sheriff and has been a practicing trial attorney for the past 18 years in state and federal courts of Georgia.

The president of the Crime Victims Advocacy Council, a non-profit organization that among other things lobbies for crime victim legislation, Bullman detailed to Kiwanis members and guests stories of police brutality against innocent victims.

He did emphasize that the majority of police officers are honorable and doing a great public service. He also praised the for its April handling of an officer who was arrested on charges of felony possession of marijuana and possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime. The officer was promptly dismissed.

“I’m not saying there’s a huge problem endemic across the state of Georgia,” he told club members and guests. “I was incredibly impressed with what the chief of police in Smyrna did in response to Officer (Clyde) Cook being found with marijuana and things like that. That’s the way it needs to be handled, promptly and with integrity. And that just, I’m sorry to say this, but it just doesn’t exist in the city of Atlanta.”

It’s clear Bullman and the Atlanta Police Department view certain situations quite differently as he is currently representing multiple plaintiffs in a highly publicized case against APD Red Dog officers. Bullman told Smyrna Golden K members that the FBI is opening an investigation into cases of police misconduct within the APD.

“I’ve been spending time with the FBI,” Bullman said at the May 31 meeting. “And the FBI is going to open an investigation against the City of Atlanta police department as a whole in regards to the misconducts that have been allowed to occur.”

The FBI declined comment when contacted by Patch.

Some of the alleged instances of police misconduct include reports by two young men who claim they were pulled over by Atlanta police officers without probable cause and subjected to a cavity search on the side of a road in downtown Atlanta during rush hour. Bullman believes they were profiled.

A few days after Bullman spoke to the Smyrna civic club, Channel 2 Action News reported that The International Brotherhood of Police Officers Union had new evidence that vindicated the APD Red Dog officers involved in the case.

“The young man who got pulled over was Latin,” Bullman told Patch after the Kiwanis meeting. “He was with a black guy who was his co-worker and friend. They were in the car. They were driving a nice vehicle. So obviously they had to have committed a crime. They found absolutely nothing, by the way.”

There are also reports from patrons of the Atlanta Eagle, a nightclub in midtown that was raided by the Red Dog unit in September 2009, that they were detained and searched at gunpoint without probable cause for an hour and a half.

The unit was dissolved in February. Bullman told the Kiwanis audience that he brought the reports of police misconduct to the attention of Atlanta Police Chief George Turner.

“I thought that if I just brought it to the attention of the police department, something would be done and done quickly to preserve the integrity of the police department, the city of Atlanta and the public servants that were working in the department,” he said.

However, no action was taken, Bullman said.

“The one good thing about that situation was I turned, as the city would not do anything, to some friends in the media and let them know about what was happening,” he said. “Fortunately as a result of some of the pressure that was brought there in asking why nothing had been done about the situation, finally the chief of police in what I believe was an act of self-preservation or somewhat of a bit of desperation, ended up disbanding this Red Dog unit.”

Bullman’s not the only one unhappy with the reports of police misconduct.  In December 2010 U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten Sr. ruled that detaining the Atlanta Eagle patrons was unconstitutional.

“To this day all those officers are still officers with the police department,” Bullman said. “No disciplinary action has been taken against them despite the United States federal judge has found that those officers violated those people’s constitutional rights as a matter of law.”

Bullman said the APD has not taken disciplinary action because the event is still under investigation almost two years later. The former police officer is disheartened not only by the reports of police misconduct, but by the loss of the community’s trust.

“The thing that’s scary is when the community is stuck in hell,” he said. “Where you’ve got true bad guys that are out there selling drugs, harming people, robbing people, shooting, killing people things like that. And on the other side you’ve got the police who are taking not the bad guys, but the citizens.”

When contacted by phone a couple days after the meeting for a follow-up, Bullman declined to provide further comment to Patch.