The long-awaited body camera footage from the 2022 shooting of Nygil Cullins at an Atlanta restaurant was finally released by the Atlanta Police Department. Cullins, a 22-year-old Black man who his family says had mental health issues, was shot and killed by the police at the Buckhead establishment. According to WABE, the video is a composite of more than two hours of content from officer body cams, restaurant surveillance, and 911 audio recordings. Cullins' family, having pushed for the video's release, obtained an unedited version as they filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Atlanta and others involved.
The footage begins with a 911 call from a restaurant employee stating that Cullins was acting unruly and was in possession of a firearm. "Yeah, I called about 10 minutes ago and now he (Cullins) went inside of the bar and started grabbing bottles," the restaurant employee told the dispatcher, as reported by WABE. When approached by officers, Cullins is seen raising his hands and kneeling down. The sequence escalates as one officer pushes him onto his back and deploys his Taser, with Cullins then running towards the entrance where he is tackled by a security guard and a shot is fired.
While the video suggests that Cullins was reaching for his weapon when the first shot rang out, the family's attorneys claim in their lawsuit that it's possible the security guard shot himself, as reported by WABE. Following this, the video shows Cullins being shot approximately five times by police, with a brief pause before another volley of gunfire is discharged. Despite Cullins' hands being raised and his gun on the floor beside him, no charges have been filed in connection with his death thus far.
In the intervening years since the incident, the Cullins family has been seeking answers and accountability. As noted in the video, Cullins' demise was part of a troubling trend in Georgia, where a record 112 civilians were fatally shot by police in 2022. The investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was said to have been completed and turned over to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office as of June 22, 2023, yet no public announcement of charges or further action has been forthcoming. The pursuit of justice for Thary's family and the broader question of law enforcement's engagement with mental health crises remain pressing issues within the community.
