A top official in Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration is no longer employed with the city after she was thrown out of a downtown restaurant last week for alleged intoxication and a confrontation that followed with police.
Bettina Anjanete Gardner, deputy director of international affairs for the city, was arrested Jan. 19 and charged with disorderly while under the influence after an alleged run in with managers at the Hard Rock Cafe on Peachtree Street, according to an Atlanta Police report.
Gardner is accused of refusing to leave the restaurant after getting loud while sitting at the bar. The report also alleges that after she was arrested, Gardner told police “I have people in Washington” and suggested that she would involve a member of Reed’s police detail to intercede.
The report said police confronted Gardner at around 10:30 p.m. as she stood on a sidewalk, cursing loudly and slurring her words. After being handcuffed, she is alleged to have used vulgar language and called the handcuffs “slave shackles.”
A spokeswoman for Reed’s office told Channel 2 Action News that Gardner no longer works for the city, but did not say why.
Gardner, a resident of Stockbridge, was named deputy director of international affairs in August 2015, according a profile of her on professional business website LinkedIn. She described her duties as working with Reed on location events for Atlanta’s international community, acting as a liaison to various global companies in Atlanta and organizing trade missions.
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