UNION CITY, Ga. — Some 80 people rallied at the Emmaus Baptist Church here July 20 to demand the immediate arrest of a cop who fatally shot a Black teen three years ago and the dismissal of the police chief for possibly covering it up. The next day protesters delivered some 200 signatures on petitions at a City Council meeting supporting their demands.

The signatures were gathered over two weekends going door to door. “We had a wonderful response,” truck driver Cornell Friday, 39, told the Militant. “Everyone who came to the door signed the petition.”

On Dec. 14, 2011, 19-year-old Ariston Waiters was shot twice in the back by Union City cop Luther Lewis, who is Caucasian. Lewis claimed Waiters attempted to take his gun as the youth was being handcuffed face down on the ground. The police chief backed Lewis’ story.

In May, police officer Chris McElroy challenged the official story, saying he was the first to arrive on the scene following the shooting and that Lewis said nothing about a struggle for his gun. Alluding to the ongoing protests across the country against cop killings of mostly Black men, McElroy said he decided to come forth now because of all the distrust of police officers.

“The petition campaign will continue,” Rev. Sedrick Hamner said after the City Council meeting. Supporters of the campaign to reopen the case “are shooting for more that 500.”

Greg Fann, president of the Metro Atlanta Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, told the Militant his organization supports this fight because “it is in the interest of labor to support all working families whether they are in organized labor or not.”