Fulton County’s district attorney on Monday met with the family of a church deacon who died in August after being stunned by an Atlanta police officer at the scene of a traffic crash.

The death of 62-year-old Johnny Hollman was ruled a homicide, caused by a combination of the officer’s Taser and heart disease, according to the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office.

At a news conference on the courthouse steps, Hollman’s family said the purpose of their meeting with DA Fani Willis was two-fold: to give her a chance to meet Hollman’s children, and to ask how long it might take her to reach a charging decision.

“He was a father, a grandfather, a deacon, and he did not deserve to die the way that he did,” family attorney Mawuli Davis said.

The family said Willis assured them the officer’s body camera footage could be released once all the witnesses are interviewed, though it’s unclear how long that may take.

Davis noted the police department regularly releases bodycam video “when it is helpful to law enforcement.” He also said it would likely take months for the DA’s office to decide whether to pursue charges.

“The only thing that we think the public should conclude is that the reason it hasn’t been released is because it’s damaging to the narrative,” Davis said. “The only person on that video who was out of control — that we saw — was Officer (Kiran) Kimbrough.”

Last week, Hollman’s family made an emotional plea at the city council meeting, urging officials to make the footage public. The council passed a resolution unanimously requesting that the mayor’s office and the police department release it.

The family was previously allowed to view five minutes of the unreleased video, which they said was troubling to watch.

Authorities said Hollman was determined to be the at-fault driver in the minor crash and became agitated when the officer tried to cite him. But Hollman’s children said the 23-year-old police officer got angry after their father asked to speak with a supervisor.

“What we saw was murder,” Davis said. “We saw an assault against a 62-year-old man who was literally pleading for his life — informing the officer that he could not breathe.”

The GBI is investigating the officer’s use of force and has asked APD not to release the video until its investigation is complete.

APD changed its policy in the wake of the deacon’s death, instructing officers not to arrest drivers for refusing to sign traffic citations. Going forward, the department said, police will simply write “refusal to sign” on the ticket.

The policy change came after Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens ordered “a top-to-bottom evaluation of the interaction” between Hollman and Kimbrough, who was placed on administrative leave during the GBI’s investigation.

According to the autopsy report, Hollman was “unresponsive from the time that the energy device was deployed.” He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Hollman’s official cause of death is listed as “cardiac dysrhythmia due to use of (a Taser) in association with hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease,” according to the autopsy report. He also had underlying conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes and obesity, which the medical examiner determined contributed to his death.

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