The family of a homeless man whose tent was crushed by a bulldozer last year during an encampment sweep filed a lawsuit Friday against the nonprofits involved in clearing the encampment—the legal action they brought over his death.
The lawsuit alleges that Partners for HOME and SafeHouse Outreach bear partial responsibility for Taylor’s death because their employees failed to check if the 46-year-old was inside his tent before deploying a bulldozer to clear the area, which flattened his tent with him inside and left blood on the street.
Taylor lived in an encampment on Old Wheat Street in Atlanta, which city officials asked to be cleared ahead of Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations last January. The encampment was near Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King once preached and which now hosts annual events honoring him.
Partners for HOME is Atlanta’s lead agency on homelessness, while SafeHouse Outreach is another local nonprofit serving unhoused individuals. The lawsuit claims the organizations should have known to check Taylor’s tent, given they had conducted prior outreach at the site.
Cathryn Vassell, CEO of Partners for HOME, said the nonprofit cannot comment on the lawsuit as it has not yet seen it but “remains committed to its mission of making homelessness in Atlanta rare, brief, and nonrecurring.” SafeHouse Outreach did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Taylor’s family filed another lawsuit in July, alleging city employees should also have checked if Taylor was inside his tent.
Taylor’s death sparked outrage among local advocates and encampment residents, who at the time called the city’s encampment-clearing policies inhumane. They noted Atlanta faces a severe affordable housing shortage that makes it inevitable some people will end up living on the streets.
Right after Taylor’s death, the city imposed a temporary moratorium on encampment sweeps. With the FIFA World Cup coming to Atlanta this summer, the city has since resumed clearings with the goal of removing encampments from the downtown area before the event. Vassell said Partners for HOME is close to its target of housing 400 people ahead of the World Cup.
The Friday-filed lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, plus compensation for medical and hospital bills, burial costs, attorney fees, and litigation expenses.
Harold Spence, one of the family’s lawyers, told a Friday news conference that city officials and nonprofit employees did not want “dignitaries” attending the Martin Luther King Jr. event to see the encampment.
“They were in a rush to remove it,” Spence said. “Unfortunately, it turned out they were willing to do so at any cost.”
Spence added that Taylor had recently secured a job and was ready to “turn his life around.”
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Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to cover undercovered issues.