Protesters protest against the death of an environmental activist, named Tortuguita, in Atlanta, in January. Tortuguita was killed on January 18 after authorities said the 26-year-old shot a state trooper.
RJ Rico/AP
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RJ Rico/AP
Protesters protest against the death of an environmental activist, named Tortuguita, in Atlanta, in January. Tortuguita was killed on January 18 after authorities said the 26-year-old shot a state trooper.
RJ Rico/AP
The second autopsy of an environmental activist shot dead by the Georgia State Patrol on January 18 shows their hands were raised when they were killed, their family’s attorney said. . The full autopsy report will be released at a press conference on Monday.
26-year-old protester, Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, was killed in a wooded area in the Atlanta area while police cleared a camp of activists protesting the construction of Atlanta’s “Police City” – or Public Safety Training Facility. Terán follows Tortuguita.
Lawyers said in a press release: “Manuel’s left and right hands both had wounds on both palms. An autopsy revealed that Manuel was most likely in a sitting, crossed position. feet when killed”.
Last month, the Tortuguita . family say they were shot at least a dozen times.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said officers killed Tortuguita in self-defense after they shot a state soldier, but the City of Atlanta video release in which one officer suggested that the soldier might have been wounded by friendly fire.
The Atlanta Police Department said that “officers were not immediately aware of events at the shooting site” before making their comment, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said that officer’s speculation was not proof.
The press release said Tortuguita’s family sued for more information under the Georgia Open Records Act.
“Imagine the police killing your child. And now imagine they won’t tell you anything. That’s what we’re going through,” Belkis Terán, Tortuguita’s mother, said in a statement. .
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation did not release the government autopsy report or meet Tortuguita’s family, and prevented the City of Atlanta from releasing more video evidence. They said no body cameras or dashcams recorded the shooting, and ballistic evidence showed the bullet that injured the soldier came from a Tortuguita gun.
“The GBI’s actions to prevent the disclosure of inappropriate evidence are solely intended to maintain the integrity of the investigation and to ensure that the facts of the case are not contaminated,” Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.
The family’s attorneys objected to this reasoning. Attorney Brian Spears said in a statement that the agency “had more than enough time to interview all of the witnesses. Once those interviews are complete, there is no reason to withhold this evidence. .”
People who know Tortuguita say details provided by the government doesn’t match someone they know. In interviews, when they were alive, Tortuguita expressed commitment to non-violence.
The training facility is set to cost $90 million and occupy 85 acres of land in the South River Forest, an important area of green space that The city of Atlanta is described as one of its four “lungs”. Tortuguita is one of the forest guardians who camped at the site to prevent its growth.
