CNN
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For more than three years, Jimmy Hill has held weekly vigils outside the Fulton County District Attorney’s office in Atlanta, handing out fliers about his son’s death at the hands of police and demanding justice.
Former Atlanta police officer Sung Kim was charged this week with felony murder, manslaughter and breach of oath by public official in connection with the January 2019 shooting of 21-year-old Jimmy Atchison. Spokesperson for the DA’s office.
It was not immediately clear whether King, who retired from the Atlanta Police Department, had an attorney.
“Oh man, I haven’t figured it out yet,” Hill said by phone Friday night.
Fulton County, which has a backlog of thousands of cases due in part to the Covid-19 pandemic, has stalled, CNN previously reported.
“It hits me in a minute,” Hill said. “I’m relieved, but we still have a lot to do.”
Hill, 60, said he learned about grand jury His lawyers filed charges against him earlier Friday. His family is expected to hold a news conference Monday with members of the NAACP and their attorneys.
Acheson was shot and killed by Atlanta police on January 22, 2019. Acheson was unarmed when he was shot in the face after a chase.
An investigation by the previous administration in the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office found that the shooting was improper and recommended felony charges against the officer who killed Atchison.
The officer had said he believed Aitchison was armed, but investigators later confirmed he was unarmed, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.
Police chased Aitchison through an apartment complex while trying to arrest him on a warrant.
Gerald Griggs, president of the Georgia NAACP chapter, said he received a letter from the prosecutor’s office in April saying there was a backlog of 11,000 cases — due in part to the pandemic — plus an estimated 55,000 cases that were not properly closed by the previous administration, CNN has reported.
In recent years, other families whose children have been killed by police have joined Hill in weekly demonstrations, holding posters with photos and messages from the case.
“Some of these families barely kept their sanity,” Hill told CNN in October. “People don’t understand what police brutality does to families and communities. It challenges your mental health.”