A Dunwoody police officer who gained a social media following as a whistleblower has regained his retirement benefits, but the city said it’s a mistake they will fight in court.
Austin Handle, who claims he was bullied and targeted by police supervisors during his two-year stint in Dunwoody, was fired in May 2020 for allegedly lying to his bosses and breaking department policy. He was initially denied unemployment benefits by the Georgia Department of Labor, but its board of review recently reversed that decision, finding the city didn’t sufficiently prove Handle’s firing was justified.
The city filed legal paperwork in DeKalb County Superior Court in hopes of reversing the decision, but Handle told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he expects the board’s ruling to stick.
“It was a very emotional moment for me, my girlfriend and my family,” Handle said. “We were all kind of just happy tears. I think I was shaking.”
Using the TikTok handle @officerash, Handle quickly accrued more than 100,000 followers last year shortly after being fired. He called himself a “corruption whistleblower,” posting short videos where he talked about the Dunwoody Police Department and made allegations that supervisors were covering up sexual harassment within the department.
Handle said he was targeted in retaliation for trying to get another officer investigated. While he didn’t name him at the time, Handle was referring to Lt. Fidel Espinoza, who resigned last year amid an internal...
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