Atlanta officer accused of profiling Black trans woman must pay $1.5 million for false arrest, jury finds
A federal jury ordered an Atlanta Police Department officer must pay $1.5 million to Ju’Zema Goldring — a black, transgender woman — who was allegedly arrested on false cocaine trafficking charges in 2015. (FOX 5 Atlanta)
ATLANTA - A federal jury ordered an Atlanta police officer to pay $1.5 million to Ju’Zema Goldring, who said she was profiled and falsely arrested for identifying as a Black, transgender woman.
Goldring's attorneys say she was walking with friends in October 2015 when two Atlanta Police Department officers stopped her for jaywalking, which Goldring denies she committed. Officers found a "stress ball" in her purse and tested it for cocaine. Goldring's attorneys said officers charged Goldring with trafficking cocaine despite receiving a negative test result.
Goldring spent nearly six months in jail. She was released when the Georgia Bureau of Investigation independently conducted a test, which attorneys said failed to detect cocaine.
$1.5 million awarded in false arrest
A transgender woman spent six months in jail for charges that were eventually dropped. She was originally arrested for jaywalking, but was arrested after police alleged she had cocaine in a homemade stress ball. She was recently award a million and a half dollars for the arrest.
Attorneys also conducted tests in front of a jury at the trial.
"The test was negative, and he charged her anyway," attorney Jeff Filipovits said in a statement. "Everyone on the jury saw that the test was negative. It should not have taken seven years and a federal jury trial to bring this to light. It’s terrifying to think what other abuses the City of Atlanta has tolerated that haven’t gotten our attention. Our client was obviously profiled, as are so many others."
A spokesperson for Mayor Andre Dickens said the case was against an individual officer and the city was not ordered to pay anything. Dickens took office last month, more than six years after the alleged incident.
Goldring's attorneys accused the officer of violating Atlanta's transgender policy, adopted in 2014.
The policy provides guidelines for officers to use a transgender person's preferred pronouns and name during interactions, It also instructs officers to deem a person's gender based upon their personal gender identity.
"This case signifies a small but significant victory on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community and other marginalized people here in Atlanta, who have been suffering through discriminatory and callous policing by individuals who swear to protect and serve their communities, but who under the cover of darkness, are indifferent to the consequences of their discriminatory practices on the most vulnerable amongst us," attorney Miguel A. Dominguez said in a statement.
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