Cornelius Taylor: Funeral services Monday for man killed in homeless encampment sweep
Cornelius Taylor funeral
Friends, family and members of the concerned Black clergy celebrated the life of Cornelius Taylor, a man who was killed in Atlanta during the sweep of a homeless encampment. Following the funeral, a horse-drawn carriage brought his body to Atlanta City Hall.
ATLANTA - A funeral service took place on Monday for the man who died during a homeless encampment sweep in Atlanta.
Cornelius Taylor was killed on Jan. 16, when Atlanta Public Works crews were cleaning out a homeless encampment near the King Center. He was 46 years old.
On the same day as his funeral, the Atlanta City Council plans to discuss measures to prevent the tragedy from happening again.
MORE: Remembering Cornelius Taylor: Community takes stand against Atlanta's homelessness strategy
Cornelius Taylor's death in Atlanta
The backstory:
Taylor suffered serious injures while crews of the City of Atlanta Department of Public Works were working to clear a homeless camp on Old Wheat Street, close to Ebenezer Baptist Church and the King Center.
Witnesses at the camp and homeless outreach groups told FOX 5 a truck ran over Taylor while he was in his tent.
One resident of the camp said that Taylor was asleep when city crews arrived at the camp and announced they were going to clear away the tents.
In an incident report released last week by the Atlanta Police Department, an officer said he noticed a man waving at him from a tent near where the machine had just been and quickly called for an ambulance.
The officer said that Taylor was "in clear distress" and had to be pulled out of his tent. After he was out of the collapsed structure, Taylor "declined quickly," the officer wrote.
Medics rushed Taylor to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Cornelius Taylor funeral
Timeline:
Taylor's family invited the public to join them in celebrating his life and protesting his death on Monday.
His funeral service was held at 11 a.m. at Ebenezer Baptist Church on Jackson Street. After the service, Taylor's family led a silent processional from the church to Atlanta City Hall and the state capitol. Taylor's casket was transported by a horse-drawn carriage.
RAW: Cornelius Taylor: March to State Capitol
After the funeral for Cornelius Taylor on Monday, his body was loaded into a horse-drawn carriage and taken to Georgia's State Capitol. Taylor was living in a tent on the streets when he was killed during a homeless encampment sweep.
The burial will be a private ceremony.
At 4 p.m., the family and local organizers will travel to Old Wheat Street to share food with Atlanta's homeless population.
Atlanta officials consider pause on homeless sweeps.
What's next:
Following Taylor's death, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens announced that he would work with the City Council to temporarily pause homeless encampment sweeps while the city reevaluates its policies.
"Every life in this city matters to me. While we are still gathering all the facts, this terrible accident expresses the need to reevaluate and reassess our city's policies concerning homeless encampments and how we can better our unhoused population," Dickens said.
On Monday, the Atlanta City Council will be looking at new legislation to prevent another tragic death.
City leaders will discuss a temporary moratorium on sweeps and a resolution to establish a task force to examine the city's current policies and procedures.
Mawuli Davis, Taylor's family's attorney, said the family is pushing the city to make changes.
"They want to see an end to the sweeps. They want to see a housing first approach for our unhoused," he added. "They want to make sure that this death is not in vain, and the only way to do that is to really highlight the way he died."
The regular meeting will begin at 1 p.m.
The Source: Information for this story was taken from a summary of the funeral plans by a representative of the family of Cornelius Taylor, a meeting agenda for the Atlanta City Council, and previous FOX 5 reporting.