The family of a homeless man who died after a bulldozer crushed his tent last year during an encampment sweep filed a lawsuit Friday against the nonprofit organizations involved in clearing the encampment, the second lawsuit they have filed over his death.
The lawsuit says that Partners for HOME and SafeHouse Outreach are partially responsible for Taylor’s death because employees did not check if Taylor, 46, was in his tent before a bulldozer was deployed to remove it, flattening his tent while he was inside and leaving blood on the road.
Taylor lived in an encampment on Old Wheat Street in Atlanta, which city officials asked to be removed before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday celebrations. last January. The camp was near the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King had preached and was now the site of annual events to honor him.
Partners for HOME is the city’s lead agency on homelessness. SafeHouse Outreach is another Atlanta non-profit that serves the unhoused. The lawsuit says the organizations should have known to check Taylor’s tent after doing outreach at the site beforehand.
Cathryn Vassell, the CEO of Partners for HOME, said that the nonprofit cannot comment on the lawsuit because they have not seen it but “is committed to its mission to make homelessness in Atlanta rare, brief and non-recurring.” SafeHouse Outreach did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Taylor’s family sued the city of Atlanta in July, alleging that city employees should have also checked if Taylor was in his tent.
Taylor’s death sparked outrage among local advocates and neighbors in the encampment who at the time called the city’s policies on clearing the encampments inhumane. They said that the city faces a huge shortage of affordable housing which makes it inevitable that people will end up living on the streets.
Right after Taylor’s death, the city put a temporary moratorium on encampment sweeps. With the FIFA World Cup coming to Atlanta this Summer, the city has since resumed clearing the camps with the goal of eliminating any homeless people in the downtown area before then. Partners for HOME is close to its goal of hosting 400 people before the World Cup, Vassell said.
The lawsuit filed Friday seeks unspecified damages as well as compensation for medical and hospital bills, funeral expenses, attorney’s fees and litigation costs.
Harold Spence, one of the attorneys representing the family, said at a news conference Friday that city officials and nonprofit employees did not want the “dignitaries” attending the Martin Luther King Jr. event. they see the camp.
“They were in a hurry to remove it,” Spence said. “Unfortunately, it turned out that they were willing to remove it at any cost.”
Spence added that Taylor had recently gotten a job and was ready to “turn his life around.”
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Kramon is a staff member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a national non-profit service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercover issues.