Atlanta Police Chief Ericka Shields sent an email to the department Tuesday night, indicating she was blindsided by criminal charges filed in the case of six officers.
Those officers are facing excessive force charges in a Saturday night arrest of two Atlanta college students who were pulled from their cars during Saturday night protests.
Chief Shields also indicated the department had lost tactical support because of the newly filed charges.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard filed charges against the six officers Tuesday. The remaining four are on administrative leave. They’re expected to turn themselves in by Friday.
The email was sent by two sources to Channel 2 investigative reporter Nicole Carr, shortly after Shields sent it around 8 p.m. It was confirmed by department officials late Tuesday evening.
Shields said she spent four hours Sunday reviewing video of the incident and realized conflicting instructions, such as not allowing the students a chance to respond, created chaos and escalated a low-level encounter into a space where officers introduced violence. She called the cops “good people and good cops” who made “multiple mistakes in a heated moment.”
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