Johnny Hollman Sr.

Deacon Johnny Hollman Sr., 62, died less than two hours after being Tased by Atlanta Police Officer Kiran Kimbrough on August 10, 2023, during a dispute over a traffic citation following a minor car accident Hollman himself had called 911 to report. Hollman, who had just finished Bible study and was bringing dinner home to his wife, asked to speak with a sergeant after being cited; when he refused to sign the ticket, Kimbrough threatened arrest, then Tased him and forced him to the ground. Body camera footage showed Hollman saying “I can't breathe” as many as sixteen times while being restrained, with a tow truck driver at the scene also accused by witnesses of placing a knee on his neck. An autopsy ruled his death a homicide, though the medical examiner found his underlying heart disease also contributed. Kimbrough was fired for violating department procedure but never criminally charged; a Fulton County grand jury declined to indict him on August 4, 2025, two years after Hollman's death. No one has ever been convicted in Hollman's death.

Atlanta, GA · Fulton County

• 2023: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The traffic citation, the Tasing, and Hollman's death, per body camera footage the Atlanta Police Department released publicly in November 2023 and the department's own internal investigation.
• Hollman called 911 himself after a minor car accident on his way home from Bible study; the responding officer found him at fault and issued a citation, which Hollman refused to sign after his request to speak with a sergeant was denied.
• Body camera video showed Officer Kiran Kimbrough threatening to arrest Hollman if he would not sign the citation, then deploying his Taser and forcing him to the ground; Hollman can be heard saying “I can't breathe” as many as sixteen times while being restrained.
• A tow truck driver at the scene, working for a city contractor, was separately accused by witnesses and the family's attorneys of placing his knee on Hollman's neck while helping restrain him; Hollman's family called for that driver to be charged as well.
• Hollman became unresponsive at the scene and was pronounced dead at Grady Memorial Hospital; an autopsy ruled his death a homicide, while also finding that his preexisting heart disease contributed to it.
• The Atlanta Police Department's internal investigation found Kimbrough had violated standard operating procedure during the encounter, and Police Chief Darin Schierbaum fired him in December 2023; Kimbrough's attorney said he used his Taser in a manner consistent with his training and appealed the firing.
• A Fulton County grand jury reviewed the case and declined to indict Kimbrough on August 4, 2025, nearly two years after Hollman's death, finding the shooting justified under the applicable legal standard.
• Hollman's family filed a 63-page federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Atlanta, Police Chief Schierbaum, and Kimbrough, devoting much of the filing to what it described as two decades of patterns of excessive force and inadequate investigations within the department; Hollman's death also became a rallying point in opposition to the city's planned public safety training center, widely known as “Cop City.”
• In response to the case, the Atlanta Police Department changed its operating procedure so that officers write “refused to sign” on a citation when someone declines, rather than attempting an arrest over it.

• Whether Kimbrough's use of a Taser against a 62-year-old man for refusing to sign a traffic citation was a justified use of force, as the department's own internal review of procedure violations and the subsequent firing would suggest was in dispute, or legally justified, as the grand jury ultimately found, was never resolved at any criminal trial, since the grand jury declined to indict.
• The extent to which the tow truck driver's alleged restraint technique, separate from the Tasing itself, contributed to Hollman's death has not been independently established or addressed in any criminal proceeding, since no charges were brought against him either.
• The relative contribution of the Tasing versus Hollman's preexisting heart disease to his death, both cited in the same homicide ruling, has not been further broken down in public reporting beyond the autopsy's general finding.

• CBS News — “Atlanta's police chief fires officer involved in church deacon Johnny Hollman Sr.'s death”
• Fox 5 Atlanta — “Johnny Hollman death: Family files lawsuit against Atlanta, former officer”
• Black Star News — “Family Of Black Deacon Killed By Atlanta Police Calls For Justice March Saturday”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs