The Atlanta City Council settled with the Atlanta Eagle, a gay bar that was the location of a botched police raid in September 2009.
The Council voted 14-0 to pay more than $1 million toward the 28 plaintiffs of Calhoun v. Pennington. Geoff Calhoun was a bar patron and Richard Pennington the city's police chief at the time.
The final negotiated agreement requires Atlanta taxpayers to pay legal expenses for both sides as well as the costs of depositions and transcripts. The settlement also requires the city to oversee reforms in the Atlanta Police Dept.
Plaintiff attorney Dan Grossman alleged in the lawsuit that the APD violated federal and state constitutional rights of the bar patrons. The lawsuit also alleged that officers did not present a search warrant and used anti-gay slurs during the raid.
The APD performed the raid after reports on drug sales on the premises and that men were engaging in sex at the bar.
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