Ahmaud Arbery’s mother filed a federal civil suit on Tuesday, alleging that police in Glynn County, Georgia, and two local prosecutors conspired to cover up Arbery’s murder and protect the men involved in his death.
The lawsuit seeks $ 1 million in damages and alleges that the Brunswick County Police Department and prosecutors worked together to paint Arbery as a violent criminal and absolve Gregory McMichael, his son Travis McMichael and his neighbor William Bryan from transgressions .
“There was a vast conspiracy between police and agencies not only to cover up the evidence to arrest Ahmaud’s killers, but also to cover up the evidence that would directly imply law enforcement in the murder,” says a statement by Lee Merritt, the lawyer Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper.
Arbery, 25, was racing in Brunswick, Georgia, on February 23, 2020, when, authorities say, he stopped to check on a house that was under construction. The McMichaels, who were armed, followed him, and Travis Michael is accused of shooting him. The McMichaels told the police that they thought Arbery was a thief and that Travis McMichael shot him after Arbery “attacked violently”. Bryan reportedly joined the McMichaels to help arrest Arbery, according to the Glynn County police report. Bryan recorded the murder.
“The cover-up for Ahmaud’s murder started the moment that uniformed Glynn Police Department officials arrived at the crime scene,” the suit says.
The men were not arrested when the police arrived. This, the lawsuit claims, was part of the privileges given to the McMichaels thanks to Gregory’s deep connections with the Glynn County Police and the Brunswick District Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Brunswick News reported that Gregory was a police officer there for seven years and an investigator in the prosecutor’s office for decades. In previous months, Glynn County Policeman Robert Rash, also named in the lawsuit, gave Gregory permission to act as a law enforcement officer in guarding a nearby house under construction, according to the complaint. The complaint alleges that the father and son duo believed they were acting “in the name and under the cover of the Glynn County police”.
According to civil procedure, they were. Jackie Johnson, who was a public prosecutor at the time, quickly got involved to help Gregory, his former colleague and longtime friend, alleges the lawsuit. Johnson, who is also cited in the lawsuit, reportedly told police in the days after the shooting that “there was no need to arrest the McMichaels,” according to reports and the civil suit. Instead, she appointed another defendant, Waycross Circuit Court District Attorney George Barnhill, to take the case – and the alleged cover-up – as soon as she refused, according to civil lawsuit.
“Defendant Barnhill ratified the illegal and unconstitutional conduct of defendants Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and Bryan, providing false information … stating that he had ‘video of Arbery robbing a house immediately before the persecution and confrontation’,” the suit alleges.
The alleged video was never produced. However, the video obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the day of Arbery’s death showed a person who fit Arbery’s description walking to a house under construction and entering briefly before continuing on his way. Arbery Family Lawyers said in a statement then, that the person remained on the property for less than three minutes, adding that “Ahmaud did not take anything from the construction site. He did not cause any damage to the property.”
It would be months before the disturbing video of Arbery’s death became public and fueled a summer of protests against racist violence.
“Had it not been for the video of Ahmaud’s death being 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,” says the process.
The McMichaels and Bryan were subsequently arrested, and in June, a grand jury indicted the three on suspicion of manslaughter, manslaughter, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment. All three pleaded not guilty and had no bail.
Several police officers, as well as Glynn County, are cited in the lawsuit. NBC News contacted the defendants named in the case for comment.
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