Federal judge dismisses criminal charges against Atlanta police officer over death during arrest operation

A federal judge dismissed criminal charges against a former Atlanta police officer in the death of Jimmy Atchison ruling that the actions Sung Kim took leading to the shooting of the -year-old Black man during an arrest operation were textbook self-defense U S District Judge Michael Brown commented in his ruling Tuesday that the evidence for self-defense is so overwhelming it is hard to understand how Georgia could have brought these charges in the first place much less continued with them over the two and a half years since Kim was indicted in December on charges including involuntary manslaughter felony murder and aggravated assault in the wake of the killing of Atchison the subject of an arrest warrant for armed robbery Brown s ruling commented Kim was a member of the FBI Atlanta Violent Crime Task Force and that Atchison fled from law enforcement when they proved up to take him into custody at an apartment complex in January that year SUPREME COURT TO HEAR ARGUMENTS AFTER FBI MISTAKENLY RAIDED WOMAN'S ATLANTA HOME 'WE'LL NEVER BE THE SAME' Kim eventually unveiled Atchison hiding in a closet under a pile of clothes in another woman s apartment and he pointed his gun at Mr Atchison and yelled show us your hands don t move or something along those lines according to the ruling Mr Atchison noted nothing in response Instead he suddenly and rapidly moved one of his hands -- or potentially both of his hands clamped together -- from underneath the clothes towards Defendant s face chest area it continued Thinking Mr Atchison had a gun and was going to shoot Defendant fired a single shot that killed him The ruling commented that prior to entering the apartment and then while going through its rooms officers called out multiple times for Atchison to reveal himself yet received no response Under the doctrine of Supremacy Clause immunity a state cannot prosecute a federal officer if the officer was in the performance of an act which he was authorized by federal law to do as part of his duty and what the officer did was no more than what was necessary and proper for him to do the ruling also stated ATLANTA APPROVES M SETTLEMENT FOR POLICE OFFICER ACQUITTED IN FATAL SHOOTING Brown ultimately dismissed the charges on the basis of Supremacy Clause immunity and self-defense immunity It is hard to celebrate when a young man died but there is no doubt that the decision of the Fulton County DA s office to compound the tragedy by prosecuting Sung Kim was an inexcusable abuse of prosecutorial discretion Kim s attorney Don Samuel reported WSB-TV following the ruling Judge Brown s decision was unambiguous Sung Kim s acted in self-defense When Kim was indicted in his father Jimmy Hill mentioned This is what we have been praying for ever since that day Jimmy was taken from us We have had marches meetings everything you can think of to beg Fulton County to take action I narrated the world I would never give up on justice for my son -- no matter how long it took he added at the time according to the Associated Press Kim retired from the Atlanta Police Department months after the fatal shooting WSB-TV revealed In March his legal organization sought to dismiss the charges according to Fox Atlanta