Behind the Investigation with Atlanta News First

 The state's highest court will soon decide whether a man convicted of killing his infant son more than 20 years ago will get a new trial.The case involves the controversial medical diagnosis, shaken baby syndrome. In 2003, a Gwinnett County jury convicted Danyel Smith of murdering his two-month-old son, Chandler. The state's medical examiner ruled the boy's death a homicide, caused by blunt force trauma. Prosecutors told the jury it was a “shaken baby” case.In April 2024, Smith pleaded with Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Ronnie Batchelor to grant him a new trial following nearly two weeks of testimony from medical experts who testified the child's death points to biological issues.“I asked myself if I could live with that decision for the rest of my life and the answer is no,” Smith told the court. “Only a guilty man would plead out.“Not every tragedy is a crime,” Smith said. “I'm not a murderer. I did not kill my son."Read the full story here:  https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2025/01/16/georgias-highest-court-hear-case-dad-convicted-killing-infant-son/

Loris Sinanian is a deacon at St. Francis of Assisi's in north Georgia's town of Blairsville. At age 93, he still leads mass, but these days, he needs his faith more than ever.A few months ago, Sinanian lost his wife, Peggy. Just before that, he lost his life savings to an internet scam.“Somehow, they got into my computer,” Sinanian said. “When they got into my computer, they also got into my bank account.”In October 2023, Sinanian said he he received a call from a man who claimed to be “an old friend.” The caller said he owed $100 and wanted to deposit the money into Sinanian's bank account.Sinanian went to his bank's website online but did not realize he gave the scammer remote access to his computer. That's when the scammer duplicated the website and made it appear as though he accidentally deposited $100,000 into Sinanian's account, instead of $100.Read Better Call Harry's full reports here:https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2025/01/07/scammers-rob-blairsville-church-deacon-life-savings/and here:https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2025/01/14/elderly-scam-victims-face-limited-protection-banks/

 When Patricia Miele's family moved her into Greenwood Place Assisted Living and Memory Care in Marietta this past October, they trusted the 89-year-old was in good hands, adding the facility came highly recommended.Miele moved from Connecticut to Georgia years ago to be closer to her family and two grandchildren. The former schoolteacher and devout Catholic lived by her routines, which involved prayer and meals. She didn't even have a television in her room.“Pat was a voracious reader and had a deep faith and understanding of her place in the world,” said son-in-law Garrett Phillips.Miele's daughter, Karen Phillips, said the facility should have known her mother's mental health was on the decline. According to her, Miele once mistook a fire alarm for an elevator button while living at Greenwood Place. Then there was the time when she accidentally locked herself in her room.Karen Phillips also remembers a nurse called to share her mother repeatedly expressed fear of getting lost. “She didn't know where she was going and needed help,” she said. They knew that.”Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2025/01/08/dont-lose-our-mother-i-family-missing-woman-found-dead-speak-out/

A rural county south of Atlanta has become a target for scammers trying to make tens of thousands of dollars off people's vacant property through local real estate agents.Atlanta News First Investigates discovered a growing issue of sham sellers near Barnesville, where a significant amount of growth is taking place. Real estate agents say the scammers are all impersonating property owners who live out of state. READ MORE: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/12/19/scammers-target-rural-georgia-county-with-property-fraud/

While metro Atlanta didn't see widespread damage from Hurricane Helene, some Woodstock, homeowners filed insurance claims for significant wind damage. But not everyone's insurance is paying for new roofs.More than a dozen homeowners in the Oakhurst neighborhood filed claims for roof damage with a very specific type of construction shingle that roofers say cannot be “fixed” without a full replacement. READ MORE: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/12/12/metro-homeowners-battle-insurance-roof-replacements-after-helene-damage/

A Clayton County hospital is accused in a lawsuit of putting vulnerable patients at risk. Darryl Lynn Fussell II was having a mental health crisis and escaped the Southern Regional Medical Center, even though he was on an involuntary 1013 hold. Our Atlanta News First investigation found 44 patients have been reported missing from the location in the last three years.   Read the full investigation here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/12/18/dozens-patients-reported-missing-this-metro-atlanta-hospital/

Jamming and spoofing of navigation and timing signals threaten the American economy, according to experts. Developed half a century ago for the military, GPS is now used daily by more than seven billion devices worldwide. It's inside your phone; inside your car; and in the cockpit of every airliner. 

Drug agents are no longer allowed to seize cash from innocent passengers at US airports as a direct result of this two-year investigation by Atlanta News First Investigates.The Department of Justice ordered the Drug Enforcement Administration to suspend its ‘cold consent encounters' at departure gates nationwide because of a single video that would never have been recorded had a traveler not watched the 2023 ‘In Plane Sight' investigation.That innocent passenger followed the legal advice reported in our original series: asking if he was free to go, denying the DEA consent to search his bag, and recording the encounter. His video of the agent seizing his bag without a warrant led to a Senate inquiry, and the DOJ Inspector General launching a formal investigation.The investigation revealed airline employees secretly received kickbacks from the DEA — percentages of any money seized from passengers who were never charged with crimes.The US Deputy Attorney General responded by immediately issuing a directive to the DEA, shutting down the entire program.  Read the full series here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/page/in-plane-sight/

Eminent domain, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is defined as the right of a government or its agent to appropriate private property for public use, with payment of compensation. In Georgia, the process starts by first condemning the site.Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/12/04/railroaded-georgia-family-farm-fights-land-seizure-claims-eminent-domain-abuse/

For the past 30 years, Georgia State University has run a program for experienced teachers to learn a curriculum called Reading Recovery, which is intended to help children learn how to read.Reading Recovery is one-on-one instruction in the classroom for the lowest performing students in first grade struggling to read. School districts in Georgia and across the country used its teaching methods for decades.Once hailed as one of the most effective intervention models, a study published in the Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness in 2023 raises questions about its effectiveness. While the results show the short-term impact to students “largely positive,” researchers say the results completely flipped once the children reach third and fourth grade.Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/12/10/georgia-state-university-accused-teaching-debunked-reading-methods/

One of the world's largest carpet manufacturers claims it was tricked into using a group of chemicals it did not know was harmful to people and the environment.The allegations are part of a pending lawsuit filed by Mohawk Industries, based in Dalton, Georgia, against 3M and other chemical manufacturers.The lawsuit claims the chemical companies “concealed and misrepresented material information regarding the environmental and health risks of PFAS chemicals” when it sold “treatment products” to Mohawk for decades.On Monday, the city of Dalton itself filed a lawsuit against Shaw Industries, claiming one of the city's largest employers contaminated its sewage system with PFAS chemicals. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court Northern District of Georgia in Rome.Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/12/10/erin-brockovich-you-have-pfas-contamination-its-big-one/

With a single sentence, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has ended a nationwide program that had seized untold millions in cash from airline passengers without arrests.“I am directing that the DEA suspend conducting consensual encounters,” wrote Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in a Nov. 12, 2024, directive to the Drug Enforcement Administration.The directive was an immediate response to a report from the Justice Department Inspector General that was set in motion by Atlanta News First Investigates. The award-winning investigation, In Plane Sight, has been viewed millions of times on YouTube. One of those viewers took action because of it, setting off a chain of events that led the Justice Department to shut the program down.Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/12/03/airline-informant-received-thousands-passenger-cash-seizures/

A metro Atlanta daycare was behind on her bills due to delays in payments from Georgia agencies; insulin deserts are plaguing Georgia communities; and an Atlanta Falcons superfan was arrested after an Atlanta News First investigation.These are some of our award-winning team of journalists' most popular reports from 2024.

A fake landlord tries to evict an Atlanta family from their home;  an Atlanta couple is furious with Amazon over a rushed delivery that caused thousands of dollars in damages to their home; scammers are using AI-generated images of military personnel to them into their romance scams; and a Georgia town is accused of using their police department to ticket drivers for the city's profits. Relive all of these riveting reports from 2024 from the award-winning team of Atlanta News First Investigates reporters.

Atlanta's top consumer reporter Harry Samler has been helping our community's residents solve their problems for more than 20 years. In this year-end special, he recaps some of his top reports from 2024, including a metro Atlanta daycare owner almost having to close because of past due payments from the government; an unlicensed contractor in over his head; a $300,000 water bill; mystery parking violations; how a man wound up with TWO car payments; and an oversized tax bill.

Misdeeds, an investigative series produced by Atlanta News First from September 2023 through June 2024, exposed a loophole in Georgia law that left local families robbed of their most valued asset: their home. Our reporting uncovered a pattern of deed thefts at the center of real estate fraud. It's a crime that often goes unpunished. Misdeeds got immediate results, creating a new state law. Previously, state policy did not require ID to file a deed on a house.   Clerks were not even allowed to ask for IDs.  The more metro Atlanta became a hotspot for real estate, the more deed theft seemed to happen—thieves exploiting the loophole in state law to steal and transfer the title of homes. Because of the new Georgia law created as a direct result of this investigation, homeowners' largest investment is now protected.Read and watch the full series here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/news/investigate/stolenhome/

Zenobia Willis was on the verge of bankruptcy.Willis is a small business owner who runs a transport service for disabled adults, seniors and dialysis patients. She said the state agency she works with, the Northeast Georgia Regional Commission (NEGRC), owed her $61,000. Willis said the state-funded agency had not paid her since July.“There is no reason why it should take three months to get paid,” Willis said. “You cannot run a business, especially a transportation business, without money.”NEGRC is based in Athens, Georgia, and services 12 counties and 54 cities. It is one of twelve regional commissions in Georgia created “to foster the implementation of joint local, state, and federal programs.”Acting Director Burke Walker confirmed payment delays to 18 vendors, including Willis.Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/11/22/georgia-department-confirms-statewide-payment-delays-vendors/

Daydrianna Hefner is a Cherokee County, Georgia, mother of two who had a history of substance abuse, evident by a string of mugshots from years ago.Hefner's addiction led to prison and intervention from the Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS), which placed her two kids in foster care in October 2021.While behind bars, Hefner decided to get sober. “I needed to get arrested to have that long clear frame of mind,” she said, and today cites her sobriety date as May 28, 2022.When she was released, Hefner agreed to a DFCS case plan to get her children back, which included random drug screens. But now Hefner said some of the results make no sense, arguing “the department is saying I failed drug screens and I know I haven't used any drugs.“I don't know what to do and feel helpless.”Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/11/14/georgias-contracted-drug-labs-under-scrutiny-over-alleged-false-positives/

Since state lawmakers approved a measure allowing cities to install school zone speed protection cameras about five years ago, the number of cameras have exploded, from 39 permits for cameras approved in 2019 to 290 last year. Public records uncovered by Atlanta News First Investigates reveal the cameras have generated more than $112 million in revenue for Georgia municipalities.Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/11/07/atlanta-drivers-getting-refunds-following-traffic-sign-malfunction/.

Thieves are targeting airport parking lots, stealing mostly high-end sports cars and pick-up trucks, some of which are later used in other crimes.Car thefts from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport have more than tripled since last year, according to statistics released by the Atlanta Police Department. Through October 2024, 301 cars were stolen, compared with 95 for all of last year.“You see so many really nice cars at the airport, people just don't park there thinking that their vehicle is going to be stolen,” said West Clark after his $150,000 BMW M8 Competition was stolen from the ATL international parking garage in October.Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/11/18/more-than-300-cars-stolen-atlantas-airport-this-year/

One of the most recognizable Atlanta Falcons superfans was arrested during the Falcons' game Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium only hours after interviewing with Atlanta News First Investigates denying allegations she misused any money NFL fans gave to her for tailgates and events.Carolyn Freeman, who calls herself the “Atlanta Falcons BirdLady,” was arrested on one felony count of theft by deception.The arrest warrant, issued on Oct. 30, 2024, states that Freeman obtained $14,000 dollars to orchestrate a party for the Chiefs-Falcons game on Sept. 22, but did not show up for the event and did not return the money.Prior to the game, Atlanta News First Investigates asked Freeman about accusations she used money she had collected for tailgates and Super Bowl events in the last 10 years to pay for car repairs, her season tickets or personal seat license at the stadium.Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/11/04/controversial-birdlady-arrested-atlanta-falcons-game/

When Bill Haynes studied music in college, he told his mother he didn't see himself as a teacher. After volunteering just one day at a Kentucky elementary school, he changed his mind.Haynes taught music in public schools for more than 30 years, the majority of that time in Georgia and at Atlanta's E. Rivers Elementary.Haynes' life full of music came to sudden stop eight days before Christmas 2016 when police found him dead inside a Sandy Springs storage facility. He was 53.Police say Justin Paul Hess attacked Haynes with a knife; investigators said he killed his own mother, Carol Ann Hess, the same day.Nearly eight years after Hess' arrest, he's never been convicted of a crime because doctors said he's not competent stand trial.Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/11/05/eight-years-after-his-arrest-an-accused-murderer-awaits-trial/

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich held two north Georgia townhalls recently discuss the impact of PFAS - also known as “forever chemicals” - in the state's drinking water supplies.A continuing series of Atlanta News First investigations has reported on the levels of the chemicals in several north Georgia drinking water supplies, including Rome and Calhoun.Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/09/20/erin-brockovich-holding-georgia-townhalls-contaminated-drinking-water/

Two former South Georgia police officers claim they were pressured to write traffic citations to generate revenue to bolster their city's budgets.John Masters and Zack Watson, who worked for the Poulan, Georgia, police department about two years ago, said they felt compelled to speak out after Atlanta News First Investigates published a series of investigations the past year which uncovered multiple South Georgia cities relying on significant portions of their municipal budgets from fines and forfeitures, generated by their police departments.The city of Poulan covers less than two square miles, about three hours south of Atlanta. According to the U. S. Census, the city's population was 760 in 2022.Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/10/09/pressured-write-tickets-former-officers-speak-out/

A South Georgia city has lost its ability to write speeding tickets for nearly six months after a state investigation uncovered it altered tickets to hide how much the city collected from citations.According to a letter by the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Safety (DPS), the agency suspended the speed detection device permits for the city of Lenox for 180 days this past July. The state's investigation found the city “consistently altered” tickets that “had the effect of excluding the fines and forfeitures for citations issued for speeding.”Lenox is located about three hours south of Atlanta on Interstate 75, a popular route to Georgia's coast and Florida.Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/10/03/georgia-city-prohibited-writing-speeding-tickets-following-anf-investigation/

FBI Atlanta is seeing a substantial increase in computer cookie thefts. Atlanta News First Investigates talks with Joe Zadik, FBI supervisory special agent, on how you can take more steps to protect your online personal information from thieves.

When Brittany Tucker's brother died in 2015, “I just took it the wrong way,” she said. “I turned to drugs.”Tucker's addiction resulted in state intervention from the Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) in 2016. Within two years, DFCS had removed all four of her kids - including an infant daughter - from her care.Georgia law says when drugs are involved in child welfare cases, a judge may require drug screening of the parent. Tucker agreed to random drug screens in hopes of getting her children back. State contracted workers would collect the specimens then send them off to subcontracted drug testing labs.Tucker admits to early relapses, but by 2019, she said she was sober for good. “I didn't get sober for myself,” she said. “I did it for my kids.”But her mandated drug tests didn't show that. According to the results from state subcontracted labs, Tucker tested positive for methamphetamine during times she claims she was sober. Those results affected her visitation privileges with her children.Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/10/17/are-hair-follicle-drug-tests-reliable-georgia-expert-says-no/

Season 2, Episode 46 of Behind the Investigation with Atlanta News FirstThe Facebook pages have names like Proudly American. Its cover photo shows troops marching behind US flags. But the listed contact address in Dallas, Texas, doesn't exist.But digging three levels down into the Facebook's page transparency feature uncovered the Proudly American page is managed by three users in Morocco.Proudly American one of dozens of patriotic Facebook pages Atlanta News First Investigates found across social media that share identical AI-generated photos of American soldiers, veterans, and military babies. Those with page management information show they're not run out of the United States.Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/09/23/artificial-patriots-foreign-scammers-use-ai-military-photos-steal-us-widows/

Season 2, Episode 45 of Behind the Investigation with Atlanta News FirstAn Atlanta News First investigation reveals sometimes in DeKalb County there are no ambulances available, but leaders are not tracking how often it happens.Read our full coverage below:‘Call Uber' | Why ambulances in DeKalb County might be unavailableBrookhaven parents prayed for an ambulance that never cameMetro Atlanta man dies after waiting on ambulance, Brookhaven police say

Season 2, Episode 44 of Behind the Investigation with Atlanta News FirstAfter more than 20 years of litigation, Ed Heller hoped a jury would finally hold the people he believed was responsible for his wife's death this past March.Patricia Heller died in January 2003 shortly after leaving Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in a taxi while on a business trip. She never reached her final destination.According to Hapeville Police, the taxi driver crashed into a line of trees on Interstate 85; the roads were slick after a recent rain. Patricia Heller left behind her husband and two children.“I heard a knock on the door. And at the door was a police officer and the pastor of our local church,” said Heller. “They told me that she had passed away in the accident.”The taxicab driver, Abdallah Adem, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide for driving with unsafe tires, because the cab's tires lacked sufficient tread.On March 4, a Fulton County jury found the taxicab company (which is no longer in business) liable for Patricia Heller's death, but not the driver or the city inspector.Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/09/19/judge-reverses-verdict-after-juror-accused-lying-about-his-job/

Season 2, Episode 43 of Behind the Investigation with Atlanta News First.Najwa Rucker is a used car customer who took her salesman's recommendation for auto insurance.But state investigators said the insurance company did not exist, and following an Atlanta News First investigation, the owner of Atlanta Best Used Cars in Norcross reimbursed Rucker for payments she made to a fraudulent company called All-Citi Insurance Group.Rucker will receive a check for $1,750. That includes five monthly payments and the deductible she paid after her car was involved in a crash.State investigators for Georgia's Commissioner of Insurance and Fire Safety are still looking for the suspect behind the alleged scheme. Warrants have been issued for Deamarkis Barber, 33, from Conyers, on eight counts of insurance fraud and eight counts of theft by deception. He allegedly stole $17,500 from 19 victims, and there could be more.Read our original report here:https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/09/18/car-salesman-recommends-insurance-customers-investigators-say-its-fraud/and our followup here:https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/09/24/customer-refunded-after-car-salesman-recommends-fraudulent-insurance-company/

Season 2, Episode 43 of Behind the Investigation with Atlanta News First.A metro Atlanta man said he's been fighting Geico over a stolen car insurance claim since it happened earlier this summer.On June 8, Josh Peresta parked his Infiniti Q50 sedan in the south terminal parking lot at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport for a business trip to Miami.He took a photo of the parked car and the marker showing where he could find it when he returned, section 17P. It was the last time he saw the car.Sometime over the next several days, thieves stole the car. Traffic cameras spotted the car driving in northwest Atlanta, and according to the police report, traffic cameras captured video of the car returning to the airport twice.In 2024, Atlanta police statistics show 161 cars were stolen from the airport parking lot and surrounding parking areas, compared to 35 in 2023; 65 in 2022; and 38 in 2021.Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/09/10/geico-customer-gets-stuck-with-two-car-payments-after-stolen-car-found/

Ransomware is a type of malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid. What is it really like to negotiate with ransomware attackers? Why negotiate? What's the most moment in a ransomware negotiation? Mark Lance is vice president of GuidePoint Security, who talks about the many aspects involved in negotiating after a ransomware attack.

 Searches of innocent passengers at airport boarding gates continue nationwide as federal drug officers look for cash they can seize.Atlanta News First Investigates documented the practice in the series In Plane Sight, showing how plainclothes officers confront passengers who've already successfully cleared inspections by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).In court records, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and federal prosecutors describe these stops as “cold consent encounters.” Multiple videos recorded by passengers show their consent was compelled by agents who told them they would otherwise miss their flights, or face a drug dog screening and a long wait for a search warrant.Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/08/14/new-video-shows-its-nearly-impossible-say-no-dea-searches-airport-gates/

Anytime Chekietha Grant sees a police cruiser, she immediately starts recording on her phone. It's an impulse reaction after a 2022 encounter with law enforcement in Brookside, Alabama, that started with an alleged broken tag light, and ended with her in handcuffs and behind bars.“Every time I go anywhere, I'm nervous,” Grant said. “If police get behind me, I instantly have to record.”Police arrested her daughter, Alexis Thomas, too. The traffic stop cost them thousands of dollars in fees from municipal court, the tow truck company, and attorney fees.Their experience mirrors hundreds of similar complaints from ticketed drivers in the small Alabama town, according to a class action lawsuit filed by the Institute of Justice, alleging the city deployed its police department not to protect the public, but to generate revenue.According to the lawsuit, the city boosted its budget 640 percent through fines and forfeitures in two years. During that time, it purchased an armored vehicle residents called “The Tank,” and named the department's K-9, “Cash.”

Ford Motor Company's recall of the 2016-2022 Ford EcoSport and Focus 1.0L engines has put owners in a difficult position. Their cars have defective parts that could potentially ruin the engine, but the replacement parts will not be available for at least six months.According to the recall, “the oil-drive belt tensioner arm may fracture or separate, causing a loss of vehicle power and power braking assist, increasing the risk of a crash.”Several plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit in June 2023 alleging “the defect presents a serious safety hazard because it can cause catastrophic engine failure without warning while driving, lost motive power, and/or sudden limp mode activation, increasing the likelihood of a collision.

 Driving behind a dump truck feels like a game of roulette. Rocks could fall out, damaging your windshield or causing a crash.You've probably noticed those stickers warning you to stay back and that the trucks aren't responsible for broken windshields. But did you notice something missing?How about license plates?In Georgia and most other states, dump trucks aren't required to have license plates or any other identifying marks on the back of the vehicle. Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/08/01/dump-trucks-without-rear-license-plates-theyre-legal/

A group of alleged squatters identified by viewers of a recent Atlanta News First investigation as members of a polygamist group have been evicted from the DeKalb County house in which they were residing.Viewers claimed at least two of the squatters are associated with a polygamist group known as Carbon Nation, which DeKalb County prosecutors refer to as a sex cult. Its leader, Eligio Bishop, went on trial in February 2024 for false imprisonment, rape and posting a revenge porn video online. After a jury found Bishop guilty, he was sentenced to life in prison.After the sentencing, a group of squatters began occupying a Tucker, Georgia, home. The house is a rental property owned and managed by Sylvan Homes. Sources told Atlanta News First Investigates the squatters changed the locks and used a fraudulent lease to turn on water service.Read the full stories here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/07/16/squatters-linked-polygamist-sex-group-carbon-nation-evicted-tucker-home/and here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/07/10/metro-couple-says-new-neighbors-donning-ski-masks-may-be-squatters/

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/

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/

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. 

Paul Lowe was 93, but the husband and grandfather was still living independently and making plans for the future. He often left notes for his wife to read around the house.“One of the last notes I have [from him] is, ‘Putting this in writing, ‘Do not buy more ice cream,' said Betty Lowe. “Because he knew, if I brought it home, he would eat it.”Paul Lowe died in May at Piedmont Eastside Medical Center in Snellville, Georgia, while being treated for pneumonia. When he passed away, his family said the hospital initially told them he died from natural causes.But a lawsuit filed in Cobb County on Monday claims the hospital fatally overdosed him with morphine, and then failed to save him, despite knowing about the mistake for hours.Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/03/26/family-claims-georgia-hospital-euthanized-father-through-overdose/

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/

Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/04/01/emory-launch-study-after-anf-investigations-into-forever-chemicals/

According to an Atlanta News First investigation, metro school districts have faced teacher shortages in the triple digits.Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/04/04/metro-atlanta-schools-facing-teacher-shortages-triple-digits/