Enraged African-Americans and their supporters Saturday stormed through the streets of Atlanta, capital of the U.S. state of Georgia, to protest the killing by a white policeman of Rayshard Brooks, a black American, who was running away from him.
Protesters marched onto the Interstate 85 and the Interstate 75 connector in Atlanta, shutting down both highways. In the most serious incident yet, the Wendy's drive-thru where the killing occurred was set ablaze by unidentified individuals.
Atlanta's African-American community was incensed and outraged by the shooting of Brooks. Those interviewed on TV expressed anger at this latest killing of a black man by a white cop. Crowds gathered at the Wendy's drive-thru in a clear sign protests were brewing.
On Saturday, Atlanta city mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms demanded the Atlanta Police Department (APD) terminate the white police officer that shot and killed Brooks Friday evening at the Wendy's drive-thru. The officer was fired on Saturday. The killing of Brooks led to APD chief Erika Shields tendering her resignation Saturday, which Lance-Bottoms accepted.
Surveillance video from the Wendy's restaurant clearly shows 27 year-old Brooks running away from a pursuing white APD officer. Brooks turns around and points a bright yellow Taser at the cop. He then turns away from the cop and continues to run.
The unidentified cop then shoots the fleeing Brooks who falls to the ground. The cop retrieves his taser. The other white officer arrives and both stand over Brooks. This officer then leaves, apparently to call-in the shooting.
Brooks had wrested the Taser from the cop that shot him in an earlier scuffle when two cops tried to arrest him for sleeping in his car. Brooks was apparently trying to sleep-off his drunkenness when Wendy's called APD to report a sleeping person in a car blocking their drive-thru.
Another video, this one taken a bystander, shows Brooks on the ground struggling to escape from both policemen. It shows one cop tasering Brooks and Brooks wresting the Taser from the officer.
Brooks breaks free and flees with the Taser. The video shows a pursuing policeman point his pistol at the fleeing Brooks. The policeman that shot Brooks is being investigated for using excessive deadly force. American law has long held police cannot shoot a fleeing suspect that has his back turned to them.
The videos were released to the public by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) as part of its investigation into the killing. The Fulton County District Attorney's office is also investigating the shooting.
The killing of Brooks comes at a very wrong time. Since the last week of May, Atlanta has been engulfed by mainly peaceful George Floyd protests railing against police brutality and the wanton killing of black men by police. The protests are being led by the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and have spread worldwide.
Lance Bottoms announced Shields' resignation at a news conference Saturday afternoon. Brooks' family has hired a lawyer, who said the family will release a statement Monday.
A GBI report said, "During the arrest, the male subject resisted and a struggle ensued. The officer deployed a Taser. Witnesses report that during the struggle the male subject grabbed and was in possession of the Taser. It has also been reported that the male subject was shot by an officer in the struggle over the Taser."
GBI also reported APD officers were dispatched to the Wendy's around 10:30 p.m. They found Brooks asleep inside his car. They awoke Brooks and conducted sobriety test, which Brooks failed.
GBI said during the arrest, Brooks resisted and a struggle ensued. One cop tased Brooks. GBI said witnesses reported Brooks grabbing the Taser.
The report then inexplicably says, "It has also been reported that the male subject was shot by an officer in the struggle over the Taser."
GBI director Vic Reynolds said the agency had taken surveillance video from the Wendy's, police body cam video and bystander video posted to social media. He's unsure as to how many times the cop fired at Brooks.
"It does appear in the video that he is fleeing from the Atlanta police officers," said Reynolds.
District attorney Paul Howard, Jr. said his office had already launched an intense, independent investigation of the incident, He said his office's thoughts and sympathies are extended to the family of Rayshard Brooks. He said people must not forget this investigation is centered upon a loss of life. GBI is investigating 47 other police-involved shootings in Atlanta so far this year.
Lance Bottoms said she doesn't believe this was a justified use of deadly force. She demands the officer that killed Brooks should be fired.
For her part, Shields said she resigned out of a deep and abiding love for the city and the APD. She said she has faith in Lance Bottoms, and now is the time for the city to move forward and build trust between law enforcement and the people.
