Homeless outreach nonprofits bulldozed a tent with a man sleeping inside, lawsuit says

The family of a homeless man who died after a bulldozer crushed his tent last year during an encampment sweep filed a lawsuit Friday against the nonprofits involved in clearing the encampment, the second lawsuit they filed over his death.

The lawsuit says Partners for HOME and SafeHouse Outreach are partly responsible for Taylor’s death because employees did not check whether Taylor, 46, was in his tent before a bulldozer was deployed to clear it, flattening his tent while he was in it and leaving blood on the street.

Taylor lived in an encampment on Old Wheat Street in Atlanta, which city officials asked to clear ahead of celebrations for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday last January. The encampment was near Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King had preached and now the site of annual events to honor him.

Partners for HOME is the city’s lead agency on homelessness. SafeHouse Outreach is another Atlanta nonprofit that serves unhoused people. The lawsuit says the organizations should have known to check Taylor’s tent after they did outreach at the site in advance.

Cathryn Vassell, CEO of Partners for HOME, said the nonprofit cannot comment on the law...