Monday, September 14, 2009, 5:57 PM
News, Opinion, Politics
By Stephanie Ramage
ATLANTA POLICE EXPLAIN IN DETAIL WHY THEY RAIDED THE EAGLE BAR
At least one of the complaints that prompted a recent controversial raid of a gay bar on Ponce de Leon Avenue may have come from the bar’s own patrons according to documents provided by the Atlanta Police Department.
“This operation was in response to complaints coming from patrons that expressed concerns about being solicited by other club patrons as it pertained to illegal sex acts,” reads a report filed by an officer with the APD in connection with the Sept. 10 raid of the Atlanta Eagle, a gay leather bar.
Chief Richard Pennington said at a press conference this afternoon that one of the tips that prompted the investigation was submitted to Mayor Shirley Franklin’s office.
Two such tips were included in a packet provided to reporters. One, which may have been from a patron, informed Crime Stoppers Atlanta of a planned “Bear Fest” ( “bear” is the term sometimes used to describe hirsute, masculine gay men) at the Atlanta Eagle where sex would be permitted. Another, submitted to the mayor’s office, reported sex acts within the club and bags with “what appears to be drug residue” littering the neighborhood near the bar.
According to undercover officers’ reports made public by the APD at the press conference this afternoon, the tips, which listed sex as one of the offenses going on at the establishment, were justified.
The reports (Incident # 091420033-00) include the following observations.
--On May 21, after observing men wearing only G-strings dancing on the bar, one officer then “heard someone say the show was starting in the back room. I then went to the back room where I observed one male performing anal sex on another male and he was performing oral sex on a third male. While this was happening several other males stood around and watched, several of them had their penises out and were masturbating.”
--Another officer reported that on the same night, May 21, he was approached by another patron who told him “on Thursday nights in the rear of the location a large group of patrons gather to participate/watch lewd sex acts between other patrons during club hours and in an area which is open to the general patron inside the club.”
--One officer complained that the lighting made him “unable to see any sex acts,” but he added that while standing in the room a patron began to engage him in conversation. “When he walked away he grabbed me on the groin and said he would see me later. That same subject was not seen later in the night.”
--“This location is not licensed as an adult entertainment club but is acting in the capacity of a strip club,” reported another officer who observed a “dancer” on Sept. 10 pulling “the front of his panties down and exposing himself” to a patron who was rubbing the dancer’s crotch.
--Also on Sept. 10, an officer reported “I walked to the rear room in the club and witnessed several men receiving and giving oral sex.”
--Another officer reported that a man had his pants down in a backroom and was being caressed by another participant while several people watched and rubbed themselves. The officer reported that a patron “caressed” the officer’s chest and stomach and told him he was sexy before grabbing his crotch. Later, someone else grabbed the officer’s buttocks.
Ten complaints have been filed with the Atlanta Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards regarding the conduct of officers involved in the raid.The complaints, according to sources who have contacted the Sunday Paper, allege the officers made anti-gay comments.
Earlier reports claimed patrons were handcuffed, but one of the officers reported that during the raid, “The bartenders, dancers, doorman, and the owner were the only ones placed in handcuffs.”
Pennington says the APD’s Office of Professional Standards has not yet questioned the officers involved in the raid, but all of them will be interviewed and their conduct investigated to determine whether allegations of misconduct are justified.
“We will be investigating all of them,” Pennington said.
There were nine undercover and 12 uniformed police officers at the raid.
Sgt. Scott Kreher, president of the local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, says based on the reports submitted by undercover cops since May, the raid of the Eagle was justified. Anti-gay comments, however, if they were made, were not.
“The officers will be investigated and if they made those comments, they will be dealt with,” says Kreher, adding that if the OPS investigation results in a sustained finding of violation of any work rule, the officers involved will be disciplined according to the progressive disciplinary process set forth by the city.
The progressive disciplinary process makes violations and punishments cumulative; in other words, a first time offender would be handled more leniently than would an officer who has a track record of offenses.