Atlanta City Councilman Running on Defunding Police Dragged Behind Car by Robbers

An Atlanta city councilman campaigning for mayor on a platform of “reimagining public safety” was dragged behind his car on Wednesday before robbers successfully drove away with it.

Councilman Antonio Brown told police that it was about 11:45 a.m. when four children — who appeared to be between the ages of 6 and 12 — jumped in his white 2016 Mercedes 450 as he was attempting to speak to speak to a community leader, Ben Norman, just steps away.

“We tried to go there and maybe try to get the kid out of the car. So, I’m like, what do you do to a kid, right?” Norman told the local Fox News affiliate. “He had already starting figuring out … I mean. they had plans, they knew what they were going to do. He hit the gas and he pulled out, peeled out, and took off.”

Brown added, “One kid was in the driver’s seat. Ben attempted to open the door to get him out of the car. He fought with Ben. I then engaged and tried to get him out of the car. The three other kids were trying to figure out how to get in the car or stay out of the car. He started to hit on the gas. Ben let go. As he [the driver] started to speed up … I knew that if I had not let go, I knew I probably could have killed myself because he was going so fast, I would have started to tumble. And I would have hurt him.”

The perpetrators dragged Brown alongside the vehicle for about a block before he released his grip.

The Atlanta councilman is presently running for mayor on a platform of defunding the police, and has served as a member of Atlanta’s city council since 2019. He was indicted in 2020 on charges that he lied about his income in order to obtain new credit cards and loans, which he allegedly used, in part, to purchase a Mercedes C300.

Police said they were still trying to locate the vehicle stolen on Wednesday, saying in a statement, “At this time, officers are gathering information on exactly how this happened and working to identify anyone involved in the incident and locate the stolen vehicle.”

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