Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Kills African American Man In Arrest

The Atlanta police chief resigned on Saturday after a police officer fatally injured a 27-year-old African-American man during an attempted arrest. Demonstrations erupted following this episode to denounce the conditions in which the victim died.

Hundreds of protesters blocked a highway and set fire to Wendy’s fast food restaurant near which Rayshard Brooks was shot in a confrontation with police, local media reported. Dozens of people have been arrested, according to CNN, citing police in that city.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms – whose name has been put forward as a possible running mate of Democrat Joe Biden for the November presidential election – announced the resignation “Immediate” Erika Shields, who had been in charge of the Atlanta Police Force for over twenty years.

Increased tensions

The facts occurred Friday evening in Atlanta, capital of the state of Georgia. They come as numerous protests against police violence and racism have been taking place for weeks in the United States and other countries, following the death of George Floyd, an African-American who died of suffocation by a police officer in Minneapolis, in the northern United States.

Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old black man, fell asleep in his car on the drive-through driveway at Wendy’s restaurant, according to an official report, and facility workers called the police because his vehicle blocked customers. The man was drunk and resisted when the police tried to arrest him, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation report said.

CCTV footage shows that“During a physical struggle with the agents, Brooks grabbed the Taser from one of the agents and fled”, according to the report. “The officers chased Brooks on foot and, during the chase, Brooks turned and pointed the Taser at the officer. The agent used his gun, hitting Brooks ”, describes the document. Rayshard Brooks was rushed to a hospital and underwent surgery, but died soon after, the report continues, which adds that an officer was injured.

Father of four

The officer who fired, identified as Garrett Rolfe, was fired from the Atlanta Police Department and a second officer was assigned to administrative duties, ABC News broadcaster reported.

A lawyer acting on behalf of the victim’s family, Chris Stewart, condemned this disproportionate use of force. “In Georgia, a Taser is not a lethal weapon (…). There were other options than shooting him in the back ”, he told reporters.

Rayshard Brooks was the father of four and had celebrated the same day on 8^e birthday of his daughter, according to the lawyer. It’s 48^e shooting case involving a police officer which the GBI has been investigating since the beginning of this year, a local newspaper wrote, theAtlanta Journal Constitution. Fifteen of these shootings were fatal.

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