The parents of Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, who was killed while protesting the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center nearly two years ago, are suing three officers they believe conducted the raid that caused the activist’s death.
Paez Teran, who identified as nonbinary and used they/them pronouns, was fatally shot by Georgia State Patrol troopers on Jan. 18, 2023, when multiple police agencies led by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation carried out an armed raid against people camping in Intrenchment Creek Park.
Those camping at the public park, located within the South River Forest in DeKalb County, are known as forest defenders and were there to peacefully protest construction of the nearby training center, commonly called “Cop City.”
The lawsuit aims to find out what happened leading up to the shooting that resulted in the 26-year-old activist’s body being “riddled” with bullets, said attorney Brian Spears of Spears & Filipovits, a metro Atlanta civil rights law firm representing Paez Teran’s parents, Joel Paez and Belkis Teran.
“Why was this organized the way in which it was done, and why was Manuel confronted by officers primed with guns drawn to prevent Manuel from camping in a public park?” Spears asked at a Dec. 17 press conference in front of the Historic DeKalb Courthouse in Decatur.
“The story of Manuel’s death is still being written,” Spears said. “The objective of this lawsuit is to learn the truth about who planned the raid and to hold them responsible.”
Law enforcement authorities said Paez Teran — also known as Tortuguita, which is Spanish for “little turtle — shot at troopers first and they returned fire in self defense.
The GBI and state troopers do not wear body cameras, so there is no footage of the shooting. The GBI investigated the fatal shooting despite the fact that it was the lead agency in the raid. No criminal charges were brought against the troopers who shot Paez Teran.
Attorney Jeff Filipovits said at the press conference the raid followed months of police agencies “demonizing” Cop City protesters as “terrorists” and was “retaliation for engaging in political speech that was disfavored by law enforcement.”
“The facts are, Manuel was camped in a public park that was open to the public, that had not been closed, that was not subject to any closure order,” he said.
“And law enforcement went into that public space that had been used for months as a meeting ground, as a community ground, as a central place for the political opposition to Cop City, and they went in with an order to arrest anyone inside that park,” he said.
“This was a public forest, not the site of the construction,” said Filipovits. “They went in there and they cleared it out. No warning — you’re under arrest. So that, to us, is unacceptable.”
The defendants are GBI Special Agent Ryan Long and Georgia State Patrol Troopers Mark Lamb and Bryland Myers.
The complaint alleges that Long planned the raid, targeting Paez Teran and fellow protestors because of their opposition to Cop City, in violation of their First Amendment rights.
Long also knew the protesters were camping on public land in DeKalb County’s Intrenchment Creek Park and were not trespassing, yet instructed officers under his command to arrest everyone in the park for criminal trespass, according to the lawsuit.
Troopers Lamb and Myers falsely arrested Manuel based on that order and used excessive force by shooting pepper balls into Manuel’s tent, violating Manuel’s Fourth Amendment rights, according to the lawsuit.
Manuel was known as Manny to family. He identified as nonbinary and used they/them pronouns.
“Why did this happen to my child?” Belkis Terán said at the press conference. “I deserve answers. I deserve a proper investigation.”