'Cop City' demonstrators may have deliberately set fire at concrete company
ATLANTA - The Stone Mountain Department of Public Safety has determined that the fire at the historic Davis House, also known as the Dickey House, in Stone Mountain Park was not arson.
According to an email sent to FOX 5 Atlanta, the state's Fire Marshals Office determined that an electrical fault in a conduit near the entrance to the home cause the fire.
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Two fires on Tuesday may be connected to the opposition to the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center (APSTC) in southeast Atlanta.
A fire at approximately 2:30 a.m. Tuesday destroyed several vehicles belonging to a concrete company in Lawrenceville.
A spokesperson for Ernst Concrete said the extent of the company's involvement with the APSTC was supplying two loads of concrete for the roadway surrounding the project.
"Ernst Concrete is not the concrete foundation company for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center," the company said.
According to an online post titled "Make Contractors Afraid Again," they set the fire in an effort to make the cost of the contract greater than the profit. They also encouraged "experimentation with incendiary placement."
Fires at concrete company and Stone Mountain Park
In early October, another company involved in the building of APSTC was also targeted. In that incident, a tractor was torched.
A source also told FOX 5 Atlanta that the group may be involved in a fire that destroyed the historic Davis House in Stone Mountain Park.
That fire also started on Tuesday between 2 and 3 a.m. The home, which was 180 years old, was destroyed by the blaze. The house, which was previously known as the Dickey House, was built in the 1840s in Dickey, Georgia, and moved to Stone Mountain in 1961.
However, officials have yet to officially determine if the fire at Stone Mountain Park was arson.
Protests against the proposed training center — dubbed "Cop City" by opponents — have been going on for more than two years. Over the weekend, activists held meetings, concerts, dinners, and direct action to rally support to block the project.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and other supporters say the 85-acre, $90 million facility would replace inadequate training facilities and would help address difficulties in hiring and retaining police officers. Opponents have expressed concern that it could lead to greater police militarization and that its construction in the South River Forest will worsen environmental damage in a poor, majority-Black area.
Protests against the project, which have at times resulted in violence and vandalism, escalated after the fatal shooting in January of 26-year-old protester Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, known as Tortuguita. A prosecutor last month said he would not pursue charges against the state troopers who shot Paez Terán, saying he found that their use of deadly force was "objectively reasonable."
In August, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr indicted 61 protesters using the state's anti-racketeering law, characterizing them as "militant anarchists."
Last week, 57 of the protesters appeared at the Fulton County Courthouse as activists gathered to show their support. A Fulton County judge said the final plea hearing will happen sometime in May or June 2024 due to the amount of data attorneys say they have to go through connected to the case.
Currently, construction work on the project is around 40% complete. A petition signed by more than 116,000 Atlanta residents attempting to put the training center up for a vote remains in limbo after officials say it was submitted past the deadline.