Bulldozers kill man in tent in Atlanta clearing homeless camp near MLK's church

City workers in Atlanta have killed a man living in a tent while clearing a homeless encampment with construction equipment near Martin Luther King’s famous Georgia church.

The death of Cornelius Taylor on Thursday afternoon resulted from an effort to reduce the visibility of people without shelter near the city’s historic Ebenezer Baptist church as an accommodation for crowds expected in the area to celebrate King this weekend and on Monday, the federal holiday dedicated to the civil rights leader’s life and legacy. Taylor’s death has infuriated homelessness advocates and prompted a round of soul searching among city leaders.

“The sweep, prior to which the city failed completely to check the tents, is a stopgap measure to try to project a false, sanitized vision of Atlanta,” activists from the Housing Justice League said in a statement. “Taylor and everyone else living on the streets deserved much more than to be bulldozed out of the way for MLK Weekend festivities. Everyone deserves to live in dignity.”

Atlanta officials have not yet clarified how Taylor died. Witnesses told local media that bulldozers from Atlanta’s department of public works were removing tents from the open area across the street from the church and ran over a man inside a tent who had not left the encampment on Old Wheat Street.

“I am saddened by this terrible incident and extend my thoughts and prayers to the family of the deceased,” Atlanta’s mayor, Andre Dickens, said in a statement. “I care deeply about each and every life in this city. We will review each of our processes and procedures and take every precaution to ensure this never happens again while we continue our important work to house our unsheltered population and bring our neighbors inside.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/18/atlanta-homeless-encampment-bulldozer-death

I do not think MLK would approve. I can see him welcoming this poor man into heaven, personally.