College Park police shared videos of officers’ interviews with a 13-year-old sexual assault victim and the alleged perpetrator with a social media content creator who posted them to YouTube, according to a lawsuit filed this week.
The department sent the videos to the creator as part of an apparent response to an open records request, but the videos included sensitive, personal information about the girl that should never have been made public, the family of the victim said in the suit filed in Fulton County Superior Court.
The family called it an “egregious invasion” of their privacy and an intentional infliction of emotional distress against them. They’re asking for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
“The pleadings speak for themselves. We look forward to the day that we get justice for this child victim in court. Until then, we ask that everyone respect her privacy, even though College Park did not and does not to this day,” attorney David Cooke said in a statement.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution does not name victims of sexual assault.
The city did not respond to requests for comment from the AJC on Wednesday.
According to the lawsuit, the teenager was raped and molested by a man some time around October 2024. After the assault, she fled to the police station to get help.
During the investigation, two officers conducted an interview with the teen at the police station. According to the lawsuit, officers did not get the parents’ consent to conduct the interview, yet still turned on the camera and asked the teen questions.
The teen’s parents were interviewed in the driveway of their home while she was at the police station.
The video interview showed the teen’s face and contained details of the rape and molestation, according to the lawsuit. And the video of the parents’ interview showed the family’s home, a visible license tag on a family vehicle and included information on the alleged crime.
During the teen’s interview, College Park officers allegedly “admonished” the teen stating she should have been “a better girl,” spoke ill of her parents and that she shouldn’t “waste taxpayer dollars” by making them investigate the incident, according to the lawsuit.
Another video — which contained an interview with the alleged suspect, the victim’s name and details of the incident — was also shared.
The man was indicted and ordered not to contact the victim. But, according to the lawsuit, the man contacted the victim again and sexually assaulted her a second time, resulting in his bond being revoked. The lawsuit didn’t reveal his name nor is he named as a defendant in the privacy suit.
Around July 2025, the city of College Park responded to a content creator’s open records request and provided videos of the interviews conducted by police regarding the incident. The videos were then posted on YouTube, garnering more than 250,000 views, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit doesn’t name the content creator nor their channel.
The lawsuit alleges many people commented on the videos, with some calling out the teen, saying she lied to police, and some asking for prayers and a favorable resolution for the man’s case. The teen’s parents were also called out and blamed for the alleged incident.
The family was later informed by a College Park police officer about the videos. They contacted the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, which helped them get the videos taken down, according to the suit.
The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
The family said the teen suffered emotional and psychological trauma, as well as hatred, scorn and ridicule. According to the lawsuit, the teen had to leave home because of “a well-founded fear for her safety and a lack of protection from Defendant College Park’s Police Department.”
Attorneys for the teen and their family notified the city, mayor, council members and city attorney about their intent to file suit in September.
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