The Atlanta Police Department has released nine complaints alleging excessive force and discriminatory comments in a raid last week on the Eagle, a gay leather bar in Atlanta. A sampling of the complaints from the Southern Voice below:

One man said officers grabbed patrons who didn’t immediately lie down by the neck and forced them to the ground. The man said he was kicked in the ribs while lying down. “Then I heard laughing and giggling and saying this is more fun than raiding niggers with crack. They also told us to shut the fuck up unless we were spoken too [sic].” The man said he heard one person told that if he spoke again he would be hit by a chair. He also reported that one officer “said to everyone in general that all you all do is flash your asses and show your cocks.”

An Eagle employee said he did not know what he was charged with until he got to jail. “A lot of officers were laughing and high-fiving each other, and I heard one officer say I thought this was a sex club.”

Another patron described listening to officers chat about their cell phone plans as he lay on the ground. “I was forced down by physical force. They grabbed my neck and pushed me down. They put their boot on my back and told me to stay down. … If anyone asked anything they were told to ‘shut the fuck up.'”

Another patron said he saw officers forcing people to the ground by officers pushing their shoulders or the backs of their heads. He said he asked to move because there was broken glass on the floor where he was lying, and he was told to “shut the fuck up.” The customer recounted hearing anti-gay slurs: “I heard several slurs such as ‘I hate homosexuals.’ I also heard ‘I don’t like fags.’ One officer asked me if I was married and had any children, and he told me I should be ashamed for being there.” The customer recounted having his diabetes medication, which was in an unmarked container, taken and not returned. He recounted hearing another customer told that if he didn’t be quiet, an officer would hit him over the head with one of the barstools. “There were several officers standing over me that started joking about this is a lot of fun, we ought to come back and do this every week.” The customer said he heard an officer say pictures of men on the walls made him sick, and make comments about people’s appearance, including calling him “big boy.” He also said officers were watching the football game on TV during the raid.

A customer said he at first thought the bar was being robbed because the first police officer to yell “get the fuck on the floor” was dressed in civilian clothes and did not display a badge.

An employee who was arrested said that after the customers were allowed to leave, “the officers started high fiving and jumping up in the air bumping into each other like they were at a football game.”

An employee who lives in an apartment over the Eagle, who said he was not working that night, said someone started pounding on his door. He opened the door to two cops who asked if anyone was having sex there. They asked why there was a bed and he said it was because he lives there. He was made to come downstairs and was arrested with the other employees. He recalled hearing comments like “You people are despicable.”

It’s going to take more than sensitivity training and an LGBT liaison to drum the homophobia and racism out of our police force. Parents raising kids who aren’t bigots growing up to be cops would be a good start…. Oh wait a minute, I forgot what country I was living in…

Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington held a press conference this afternoon responding to the criticisms leveled at his department concerning a raid on the Eagle last week.

Pennington said complaints filed with the APD’s Office of Professional Standards would be fully investigated. He said the department was wrong to not involve LGBT liaison Officer Dani Lee Harris in the raid, and protocols may be changed to require future raids to be videotaped.

Pennington said his officers had conducted an undercover investigation after anonymous complaints about the Eagle received in May. Undercover officers in the club observed “criminal” behavior, according to Pennington. He repeatedly declined to specify the content of the “descriptive” complaints, referring to documents distributed by police after the press conference.

The documents say that undercover officers observed sex acts in the Eagle on occasions prior to the night of the raid. No one was arrested then, Pennington said, becauses the officers were collecting information for their investigation.

Pennington has already issued a conditional apology to the LGBT community, provided it is later determined that police officers overreacted.

While eight individuals were charged for providing adult entertainment without  a permit, no one was arrested on sex-related charges.

Yesterday hundreds rallied to protest the raid. Video below.

After moving to Atlanta in the early 90s, the Eagle was my very first gay bar. And it is one of the few that remain from that period… Backstreets, the Armory… all gone. I wish the Eagle all the best in this fight.

Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) Administrator Alan Steel admitted to the Dallas Voice this week that multiple policy violations took place during the raid on the Rainbow Lounge in Fort Worth last month. Steel apologized for those violations promising swift action.

“I don’t think you have to dig very deep to figure out that TABC has violated some of their policies,” Steen said. “We know that, and I apologize for that. Like I said in my original press release, we have in the past and we will in the future act very swiftly in making sure that those issues are corrected. It’s real clear that however it is that we were doing business that night is not the typical TABC. … I have good policy in place, I have good training in place, and I have good supervision in place to ensure that things like this don’t happen.”

Steen said if the two agents, who are on desk duty pending the outcome of the investigation, sought approval from the supervisor before the Rainbow Lounge inspection, it shouldn’t have been granted. The agents were accompanied by six Fort Worth police officers.

Steen said he doesn’t think there was sufficient cause for the inspection, which apparently was based on the fact that one person had been arrested for public intoxication at the Rainbow Lounge on Thursday, June 25. Steen also indicated that the eight law enforcement officers and the paddy wagon that were present likely constituted an excessive show of force.

The internal investigation at the TABC is still ongoing.