ATLANTA — Attorneys for a Black trans woman who they said was wrongly arrested on drug charges has received a landmark verdict in a case involving an Atlanta Police officer.
A federal jury has ordered the law enforcement officer accused of profiling Ju'Zema Goldring to pay $1.5 million.
Goldring was arrested in October 2015. Her attorneys said she was walking across the street when APD officers stopped her and accused her of jaywalking.
As officers took her into custody, they searched her belongings and found a stress ball in her purse, according to Goldring's attorneys. An APD officer then cut open the stress ball and tested it for cocaine, attorneys representing Goldring said. The test came back negative, however, APD still filed a charge against Goldring accusing her of trafficking cocaine, her attorneys said, alleging that officers lied about the presence of drugs.
"She consented to them cutting it (the stress ball) open because she knew it wasn't a substance -- and even that wasn't enough," Goldring's attorney said.
Goldring spent nearly six months in jail. Further tests helped proved her innocence, with repeated tests for cocaine coming back negative, her attorneys said. She was later released and her charges were dismissed, a news release reads. However, Goldring did not let the issue rest.
Last week, a federal jury awarded Goldring a $1.5 million verdict.
"Can I just quickly address, I want to make sure that we are clear, that the Atlanta Police Department and City of Atlanta were not without the tools to properly deal with this officer misconduct," Tiffany Williams Roberts with the Southern Center for Human Rights said in a news conference Tuesday. "Untruthfulness is a fireable offense under APD standard operating procedures."
Roberts said the case is an example of a cultural failure.
"We are seeing organized, systemic marginalization of people based on wealth, sexual orientation, gender identity and race," she said.
Attorneys for Goldring said she'll see the payout after the Atlanta City Council consults with the mayor and the attorneys representing the APD officer. Goldring's attorneys said the city can appeal and they are prepared to follow through with the process.
"If you're going to police the citizens this way, you've got to be ready to compensate them when it goes wrong, and so this is the city's first chance to make right on," Goldring's attorney said.
