Vibrant with anger, the mayor of Atlanta, in the southern United States, on Monday announced immediate reforms to the police force in her city, where a black man was shot dead by a white policeman, rekindling the pain of a country alive since the murder of George Floyd.
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“I am furious, I am sad and I am frustrated”, launched Keisha Lance Bottoms while denouncing, during a press conference, “the murder” of Rayshard Brooks.
The 27-year-old African-American was killed Friday night as he tried to avoid an arraignment for intoxication on the public highway. “It shouldn’t have ended like this,” said Mme Bottoms, very moved. “Our police officers must be guards and not warriors,” she continued.
The changes announced, which follow the resignation of the Chief of Police, relate to de-escalation techniques, the training of officers in the use of force and their obligation to report if they witness abuse. from their colleagues.
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It is “a first step” before other measures, but “there is not a minute to lose,” said the councilor, herself African-American, who is approached as a possible running mate of the Democratic candidate in the presidential election, Joe Biden.
The death of Rayshard Brooks has taken on a special dimension in the context of the monster demonstrations that have rocked the United States since the death, on May 25 in Minneapolis, of George Floyd, a black forty-something suffocated by a white police officer.
“Very disturbing”
The mobilization, unprecedented since the civil rights movement in the 1960s, was just beginning to subside when the new drama intervened.
According to an official report, Rayshard Brooks had fallen asleep, drunk, in his car outside a restaurant, employees of which called the police because it was blocking customers’ access.
Images first show a normal exchange between two white agents and the young man who undergoes a breathalyzer test. But the situation gets out of hand when they try to handcuff him: the young father grabs the Taser gun from one of the police officers and flees.
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But while, according to the official version, he “pointed the Taser at the agent who used his weapon”, the autopsy confirmed that he had died from two bullets in the back.
“It’s very disturbing”, commented Monday Donald Trump in his first reaction.
The Republican president announced he would in turn unveil law enforcement reform on Tuesday. “It will be about law and order, but also about justice and security,” he said.
White House officials have said they want to encourage good practice in policing, including tying the allocation of federal grants to modernizing policing standards in local units across the country.
Since the beginning of the movement, Donald Trump has been very evasive about the answers to be given to the demands.
“Let them go to prison”
The author of the shooting, Garrett Rolfe, has been sacked and the local prosecutor has indicated he could indict him in the middle of the week. His colleague was laid off.
“I want them to go to jail,” the victim’s widow, Tomika Miller, said on CBS. “If it was my husband who killed them, he would have taken life.”
At a press conference, she then called on the protesters to remain “peaceful”. “We want her name to remain associated with something positive,” she explained, in tears, as the restaurant where the drama took place was set on fire.
At his side, several members of the family have in turn launched a plea for real reforms. “We are calling for justice, but also for changes!” said Chassidy Evans, a niece of Rayshard Brooks.
Outside the Georgia State Capitol, a crowd echoed his words. “I came as a black man,” the Atlanta Hawks basketball coach told them. “I was born black, one day I will die black, but I don’t want to die because I am black,” he said again.
These calls, recurring for three weeks, are starting to bear fruit at the local level.
Several cities have already taken steps to ban controversial practices, such as strangulation. Marked raw, Minneapolis went further by announcing a dismantling of its police department, to overhaul the entire system.
The Democratic Mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, herself African-American, in turn announced on Monday the creation of a task force to revise the rules of engagement of the local police.
In California, several police unions have pledged to get rid of racist agents. And in New York, Commissioner Dermot Shea has promised to reassign 600 agents, particularly to outreach missions.
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