The family of Manuel Paez Terán, an environmental and social justice activist known as Tortuguita, has filed a federal lawsuit against three officers involved in the fatal shooting of the protester during a raid in January 2023. Paez Terán, who was protesting the controversial police training center known as “Cop City,” was shot and killed in Intrenchment Creek Park, a public forested area south-east of Atlanta.
The lawsuit, filed by Atlanta law firm Spears & Filipovitz, alleges that Paez Terán’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated during the raid, which occurred in the early hours of January 18, 2023. The complaint argues that Paez Terán, who was camping in the park as part of the ongoing protest against the police training facility, was wrongfully targeted by officers from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and the state patrol.
According to the suit, the park where the raid took place was public land, with no posted curfew or camping restrictions. Despite this, dozens of officers were ordered to clear out "criminal trespassers," which the family’s legal team claims was an unlawful action, as there was no legal justification for arresting the activists. The complaint further contends that the raid involved a "false arrest" based on the assumption that the park’s protesters were violating the law.
The suit also includes allegations of excessive force. It states that two officers shot pepper balls into Paez Terán’s tent while he was inside, despite the fact that he had not engaged in any criminal activity. “Any person trapped inside a tent that is filled with [pepper balls] would reasonably believe that they were going to die,” the complaint reads.
Additionally, the lawsuit claims that the actions of the officers amounted to retaliation against Paez Terán for exercising his First Amendment rights. The activists’ protest activities, including camping in the park, were part of core political speech, the complaint argues, and the raid was part of a broader effort to quell opposition to the “Cop City” project. This opposition, which includes national and local activists, is rooted in concerns about police militarization and environmental destruction linked to the training center’s construction.
The shooting incident has sparked significant controversy, particularly as it marks the first such fatal incident of its kind in the United States. According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Paez Terán was allegedly in possession of a gun and wounded an officer during the raid, but no body camera footage from the involved officers has been released to corroborate this claim. The state also chose not to make public the full investigative report into the incident.
Attorney Brian Filipovits, representing Paez Terán’s family, questioned the lack of transparency surrounding the investigation and emphasized the lawsuit’s goal: “Our goal with this lawsuit is to get information for the family and, if someone is liable, hold them responsible,” he said.
The “Stop Cop City” movement, which has grown in prominence since the shooting, continues to challenge the construction of the police training center. This legal filing is the latest in a series of actions by activists seeking justice and accountability for what they consider the unlawful actions of law enforcement during the protest.
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