ATLANTA — Atlanta leaders are reconsidering how they dismantle homeless camps after a man was crushed inside a tent as a bulldozer destroyed makeshift homes in preparation for Martin Luther King Jr. holiday events.
Cornelius Taylor was living in the camp a few blocks from Ebenezer Baptist Church, the King family’s congregation, where dignitaries gather for each year’s commemorative service. A march was held from downtown to the church that same weekend.
Now, Taylor’s family is planning a Monday funeral at the same historic church, and then a horse-drawn carriage will carry his coffin to City Hall so that people there “can see who they killed,” said his sister, Darlene Chaney.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that cities across the country can enforce bans on homeless camping. But clearing the camps — as New Orleans did ahead of Taylor Swift’s concerts there — remains controversial. Solutions are scarce amid soaring rents, natural disasters and an influx of migrants that drove homelessness up 18%.
The family’s supporters hope his death can be a catalyst for change.
“Atlanta is the leader in so much,” said civil rights lawyer Mawuli Mel Davis, who is working with the family to investigate. “We’re the leader in movies, we’re the leader in music. We’re the leader in civil rights and destinations.
“Why can’t we lead the rest of the country in how to treat the unhoused humanely?” Davis said.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens met with family members and spoke of Taylor’s death during the King Day service at Ebenezer.
“Every life in this city matters to me,” Dickens said on social media.
Atlanta police officers were at the scene on Jan. 16, partly to provide protection because some of the homeless had attacked workers in the past, an officer wrote in a police report.
As “the large earth-moving machine” moved through, a man who had been living at the camp waved down an officer, who found Taylor injured and bleeding. Taylor was able to tell the officer “that something had fallen on him” and to give his name after the officer pulled him out of the collapsed tent, the report states.
Then, Taylor’s breathing decreased. He was foaming at his mouth. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead
Taylor’s pelvis was split apart, and his spleen and liver were crushed, said Harold Spence, another family lawyer. An autopsy report has not yet been released by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Taylor’s death, the mayor said, “demonstrates the need to reevaluate and reassess our city’s policies concerning homeless encampments, and how we can better serve our unhoused population.”
The temporary moratorium being considered by the city council should lead to stronger policies and expanded outreach, Dickens said.
The tent camp was one of Atlanta’s largest, occupying a block where buildings were razed long ago and spilling out onto Old Wheat Street, alongside the interstate highways that separate downtown from the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood.
Although the area was being cleared in preparation for the King holiday events, as Public Works spokeswoman Kim Rankins confirmed, city officials said the plans were in the works for months, with a significant amount of “outreach” to people living there beforehand.
That process began in April 2024 and connected 21 people to shelter or housing, said Cathryn Vassell, CEO of Partners for HOME, which partners with the city on homeless issues.
“These spaces are incredibly unsafe not only for those who shelter in them but also for the communities that surround them,” Dickens said.
Chaney said her brother was an artist — he loved drawing — and even when he was on the streets, he tried to take care of her.
When someone broke into her car one time, “he had a fit and was ready to protect me because he was a protector,” she said.
“I don’t know how I’m going to go on,” his sister added. “I listen to his voicemails, and I’m just grateful I have that.”