Behind the Investigation with Atlanta News First

Someone claiming to be the son of a recently deceased man allegedly filed false probate paperwork that gave him access to everything the beloved uncle to an Atlanta family left behind.

Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/07/25/metro-family-loses-inheritance-family-home-even-their-late-uncles-ashes/

Steve Christian was 77, a veteran who, according to a letter he left behind, was suffering from cognitive memory loss. His letter said the diagnosis made him want to take his own life.

On a rain-soaked March 3, 2023, Christian shot himself in the parking lot of Brookhaven, Georgia’s Blackburn Park. While waiting on an ambulance, Christian expressed his sorrow to police officers and seemingly expressed a desire to live, according to body camera footage obtained by Atlanta News First Investigates. Crews detailed Christian asking for help, recalling the veteran said he “messed up.”

Police officers expressed their frustration and dismay over the ambulance’s delay. One officer said, “It’s going to be a gunshot wound to the lungs, second chest wound. Let’s go ahead and get an ETA. They’re going to need to step this up.” Another officer said, “This is unbelievable, man. I can’t believe this.”

After 22 minutes, a DeKalb Fire Department unit arrived, but the fire truck isn’t capable of emergency transport. Twenty-five minutes after the first officer responded, an American Medical Response ambulance finally arrived.

But Steve Christian was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/07/15/it-took-26-minutes-metro-atlanta-ambulance-show-up-why/

The city of Lenox, Georgia, covers less than two square miles. It’s a small town in south Georgia with a big reputation for handing out traffic citations. Using figures provided by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, an Atlanta News First investigation shows Lenox relies more on the profit generated by its police force than any other Georgia town.

In 2022, it collected $1.3 million from citations, nearly 73 percent of the town’s budget.

Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/07/22/nearly-73-this-citys-budget-comes-traffic-tickets/

Atlanta News First Chief Investigator Brendan Keefe, political reporter Doug Reardon and anchor/legal expert Joy Lim Nakin report on the 2024 Republican National Convention. Former president Donald Trump has been nominated for an unprecedented third consecutive time, and he's chosen Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance as his running mate. Meanwhile, the Georgia Court of Appeals has chosen a date to hear arguments as the former president tries to disqualify Fulton County DA Fani Willis from her investigation and indictment. And the U.S. Secret Service is under heavy criticism in the wake of a deadly assassination attempt on Trump that took place in Butler, Pennsylvania.

 When Coleen Brooks sees something out of the ordinary, she jots it down on paper. It started as a hobby that turned into a full-time career. In her 30 years as a columnist for small newspapers in Calhoun, Georgia, she estimates writing at least 10,000 articles about everything from the weather and local sports to movies.

There’s one column, though, that has always stuck with her, one she wrote decades ago entitled, ‘Spreading It Around,” about city trucks she saw spraying something on fields across from her home and around Gordon County.

In the 2004 article, Brooks wrote a city worker told her at the time it was municipal sewer sludge turned into fertilizer. She said the worker told her the sludge was safe because it was treated with chemicals. “And when it rains, are these chemicals safe if they run off into our rivers and lakes or soak into the earth?” asked Brooks in her column.

Twenty years later, Brooks’ article may have foreshadowed a potential environmental disaster, impacting her and thousands of her neighbors.

Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/06/25/dont-poop-where-you-drink-i-residents-claim-city-contaminated-drinking-water/ 

Young Thug's trial – which has been repeatedly plagued by arrests, charges and disruptions – began on Nov. 27, 2023. Defense attorneys have repeatedly raised concerns that the trial could go on for years based on the number of witnesses the state plans to call up.

Digital content producer Tim Darnell and broadcast reporter Rachel Aragon talk about the latest delay, and how a judge's future ruling on the trial could upend America's most-watched judicial drama, the trial of global recording superstar Young Thug.

Full coverage of Young Thug's trial here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/news/crime/young-thug-trial/

The fastest electric Kia can now outrun the Georgia State Patrol’s gas-powered pursuit vehicles.

The state patrol’s newest Dodge Charger police pursuit cruisers accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in around six seconds, according to tests by the Michigan State Police. A 2024 Kia EV6 GT gets to 60 MPH in 3.2 seconds. The Kia also has a higher top speed than the standard police car.

The fastest Teslas accelerate from zero to 60 MPH in well under three seconds. Each new model from dozens of manufacturers — many of them building EVs in Georgia — is faster than its predecessor. Several models, including the Rivian pick-up truck, can get to 60 MPH in two and a half seconds.

The concern among law enforcement is when someone behind the wheel of one of those super-fast EVs chooses to run from police. In a gas-powered pursuit vehicle, the police are outmatched in acceleration.

Investigative Reporter Andy Pierrotti talks with Atlanta News First Chief Investigator Brendan Keefe about how many police-pursuit vehicles are overmatched.

Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/07/08/electric-cars-can-now-outrun-fastest-police-cruisers/

Atlanta News First consumer reporter Harry Samler, of Better Call Harry, covers some items you need to remember if you're planning to move.

 When Georgia state lawmakers debated a proposed law back in 2018 about granting cities the authority to install speed detection cameras in school zones, the bill’s author pulled at his colleagues’ heartstrings.

“We’ve had several deaths and major injuries in the state of Georgia already in these school zones,” said then-state Rep. Chad Nimmer, a Republican from Blackshear, during a state House public safety and homeland security committee hearing. “And if they think surveillance technology is the right way to protect their children and their memaws and peepaws and mommies and daddies and the cross-walk tenants safe, they can install this if they deem necessary.”

The committee chairman called it a “good bill.” Lawmakers passed it with little discussion.

Nearly five years later, an Atlanta News First Investigation has uncovered the cameras have exploded in use, generating millions in revenue for cities across the state. In 2019, the Georgia Department of Transportation approved 39 camera permits. Last year, there were 290 approved permits.

Public records from 54 Georgia municipalities reveal the cameras have generated more than $112 million in revenue since 2019, an amount that has some lawmakers and city leaders questioning the real motivation of the cameras. 

He never pulled the trigger, but Christian Brown nearly went to prison after going somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be with a gun in his hand.

It happened in December 2018 inside a stranger’s home near Palmetto, Georgia. Brown used the bottom of a handgun to hit the homeowner in the head and walked away with just over $100.

“Every time I look back at that, I’m like, that was not worth it at all,” Brown said. “I regret that, too. I regret everything that I did.”

Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/04/15/inside-fulton-county-courtroom-giving-young-offenders-second-chance/