Ahmaud Arbery’s mother on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit alleging that police in Glynn County, Georgia, and two local prosecutors conspired to cover up the murder of Arbery and protect the men involved in his death.
The case claims $ 1 million in damages, alleging that the Brunswick County District Attorney’s Police Department and officials worked together to portray Arbery as a violent criminal and to acquit Gregory McMichael, his son Travis McMichael and their neighbor William Bryan of wrongdoing.
“There was a major conspiracy between law enforcement officials and agencies to not only obscure evidence for the arrest of Ahmaud’s killers, but also to cover up evidence that would imply law enforcement directly at the time of the murder,” reads a statement from Lee Merritt. , the lawyer of Arbery. ma, Wanda Cooper.
Arbery, 25, was jogging on February 23, 2020 in Brunswick, Georgia, when, according to authorities, he stopped to look at a house under construction. The McMichaels, who was armed, followed him and Travis Michael is accused of shooting him. The McMichaels told police they think Arbery is a burglar and that Travis McMichael shot him after Arbery “attacked violently”. According to the Glynn County police report, Bryan allegedly joined the McMichaels to help lure Arbery. Bryan recorded the murder.
“The cover-up of Ahmaud’s murder began when the Glynn police station uniform arrived at the crime scene,” the case said.
The men were not arrested when police arrived. The case alleges that it was part of the privileges the McMichaels gave thanks to Gregory’s deep involvement with Glynn County police and the Brunswick District Attorney’s Office.
The Brunswick News reports that Gregory was a police officer for seven years and an investigator at the district attorney’s office for decades. In the months prior, Glynn County Police Officer Robert Rash, also named in the lawsuit, gave Gregory permission to act as law enforcement to protect a nearby home under construction, according to the complaint. The complaint alleges that the father-son duo believe they are acting “on behalf of and under the cover of Glynn County police”.
According to the civil lawsuit, they were. Jackie Johnson, who was a district attorney at the time, quickly became involved in helping Gregory, her former colleague and longtime friend, the case reads. Johnson, who is also mentioned in the case, is alleged to have told police in the days following the shooting that “there is no need to arrest the McMichaels”, according to reports and the civil lawsuit. Instead, she tapped another defendant, Waycross Judicial Circuit District Attorney George Barnhill, to take over the case – and the alleged cover-up – as soon as she withdrew herself according to the civil lawsuit.
‘Accused Barnhill further corroborated the illegal and unconstitutional behavior of the accused Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and Bryan by providing false information … and said that he had a video of Arbery breaking into a house immediately before the chase and the confrontation ”, is alleged in the case.
The alleged video was never produced. However, the video obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution from the day of Arbery’s death showed how a person matching Arbery’s description walks to a house under construction and enters shortly before moving on. Lawyers for Arbery’s family said in a statement then that the person was on the property for less than three minutes and added that “Ahmaud took nothing from the construction site. He did no damage to the property.”
It would take months before disturbing video of Arbery’s death was released and sparked a summer of protests combating racist violence.
“If the video of Ahmaud’s murder had not been released, the Glynn County Police Department, Rash, Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael, Bryan, Johnson and Barnhill would have successfully conspired to deprive Ahmaud of his constitutional rights,” the case reads.
The McMichaels and Bryan were later arrested, and in June a grand jury charged all three with the counts of manslaughter, murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and attempted false imprisonment. All three pleaded not guilty and were denied bail.
Several police officers, as well as Glynn County, are named in the case. NBC News contacted the accused mentioned in the case for comment.
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