Johnny Holloman was a 62-year-old deacon taken into custody by the Atlanta Police Department (APD) and tasered after a traffic stop. Hollomon died while in custody. Hollomon’s family is seeking to have the police officer arrested.
As reported, Hollomon’s family viewed the police “body camera video that shows the church deacon in custody during the last few minutes of his life while in the custody of Atlanta Police.
According to reporting, after viewing the video, Hollomon’s family “knows Mr. Hollomon did not resist arrest.” To the contrary, the family asserts that Hollomon had “for a supervisor and begged for his life.” The family’s state of mind was described as “disbelief.” Reporting described the reaction of the family as “openly weeping” and refusing to comment on what they saw.
Fighting back tears, Hollomon attorney Mawuli Davis said “This was… as long as I have been doing this… the most senseless arrest I have ever seen. He was killed over a ticket.” Background information discloses that deacon Hollomon was “heading home from bible study Aug. 10 when police say he was involved in a minor traffic accident.”
As reported, “an officer decided Hollomon was at fault and proceeded to arrest him at the intersection of Cunningham Place and Joseph Lowery Boulevard.” Police then made the allegation that at the moment of arrest, “Hollomon resisted arrest and an officer used a Taser on him.” Hollomon was unarmed and his family assert that “he did nothing wrong.”
Attorney Davis claims Hollomon did no more than “disagree with the officer on the accident.” Davis elaborated: “As Hollomon reached out to sign the ticket, the officer grabbed him by the arm, and he began to put him into custody.” Davis further alleged that the police officer “took him to the ground.” Davis asserts further that Mr. Hollomon could be heard “begging for him to stop.” Davis added that Hollomon stated: ‘I can’t breathe, please help me.’”
Hollomon’s family and others marched from APD to City Hall, demanding more be done. Friday night they asked that “the officer involved be arrested and the video of this encounter be released.”
Reporting indicates that the Atlanta Police “have changed their policy on traffic citations.” After a review of the existing procedure policy, “officers may now write ‘refusal to sign’ in the signature line, rather than make an arrest.”
