A federal judge has dismissed all charges against Sung Kim, a former Atlanta Police Department officer, ruling that his actions in the fatal shooting of an unarmed Black suspect were justified as self-defense.
The ruling, reported by Fox 5 Atlanta on June 3, came from Judge Michael Brown of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, who stated that the evidence supporting Kim’s self-defense claim was “overwhelming.” Judge Brown also wrote that it was “difficult to understand” why the state of Georgia brought the charges in the first place.
The case originated from a joint arrest operation on January 22, 2019, involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Atlanta Police Department. Officers attempted to arrest Jimmy Atchison, a 21-year-old suspect wanted for armed robbery. According to court records, Kim encountered Atchison unarmed and hiding in a closet. When the suspect allegedly refused commands to raise his hands and began approaching, Kim fired once.
Following the shooting, Atchison’s family urged local authorities to press charges. In response to ongoing public pressure, the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office indicted Kim in December 2022 on charges of murder and manslaughter.
That indictment has now been fully dismissed. The court ruled that the Fulton County grand jury’s decision lacked legal justification.
Sung Kim, a 26-year veteran of the police force, resigned shortly after the incident. His attorney, Don Samuel, sharply criticized the case, stating that the prosecution by Fulton County represented “an unacceptable abuse of prosecutorial power.”
BY HYOUNGJAE KIM [kim.ian@koreadaily.com]
