Atlanta Councilman Who Voted To Defund Police Has Car Stolen In Broad Daylight
An Atlanta City Council Member, Antonio Brown, voted to defund millions of dollars from local police departments with hopes that that pandering would lead to higher office (he is running for Mayor of Atlanta) had his car stolen in broad daylight in his district Wednesday.
Brown had just gotten out of his white Mercedes to talk to community leader Ben Norman in northwest Atlanta’s Dixie Hills neighborhood. He saw four or five kids — the youngest only 6 or 7, according to local media – brazenly steal his car.
“One kid was in the driver’s seat,” Brown said “Ben attempted to open the door to get him out of the car. He fought with Ben. I then engaged and tried to get him out of the car. The three other kids were trying to figure out how to get in the car or stay out of the car. He started to hit on the gas. Ben let go.”
“As he started to speed up, and I knew that if I had not let go, I knew I probably could have killed myself because he was going so fast, I would have started to tumble,” he added. “And I would have hurt him.”
They stole his car and then dragged him as if in some movie as he held on for dear life.
“This is a generational poverty issue,” Brown said. “These kids, it’s 12:30 in the afternoon. Why aren’t they in school? Why aren’t we enforcing systems to ensure that if they are not in school, they’re in recreational centers?”
Besides running for Mayor, Brown is under indictment on several federal fraud charges for things that happened before he took city council office in 2019.
He was one of seven councilmembers who voted to withhold $73 million from Atlanta’s police department budget until Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ administration made changes to how the Department operated.
“The reality is this,” Brown said. “We need programmatic initiatives in place to help support these kids to be able to give them another pathway instead of them committing crimes.”
From Fox5:
Brown said he tried to stop them, but got dragged a short distance and eventually let go after about a half block.
“As he started to speed up, and I knew that if I had not let go, I knew I probably could have killed myself because he was going so fast, I would have started to tumble. And I would have hurt him,” Brown said.
Brown said what happened to him is a perfect example of what is happening to our youth and why we as a society need to step up and help.
“The reality is this: We need programmatic initiatives in place to help support these kids to be able to give them another pathway instead of them of them committing crimes,” Brown said.
Brown did file a report with the Atlanta Police Department. Officers said they found Brown’s car a few hours later but did not say if they made any arrests. Brown said he does not want to press charges.
This happened nearly two weeks after Brown said he would be running to take over for Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms who said she would not be seeking a second term. Atlanta City Council President Felicia Moore and fellow Council Member Andre Dickens, as well as attorney Sharon A. Gay, have also announced a run for the city’s top spot.
There has also been rumblings former Mayor Kasim Reed will also throw his hat into the ring again.
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