Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills a Black Man

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Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills a Black Man

Post by Udon Map » June 14, 2020, 1:13 pm

From The New York Times
By Richard Fausset, Johnny Diaz and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs

Rayshard Brooks had fallen asleep in his vehicle at a Wendy’s drive-through. He was shot after grabbing a Taser from an officer, the authorities said, prompting fresh unrest in the city.

ATL.jpg
Protesters confronted police officers outside the Wendy’s restaurant in Atlanta where Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed in the parking lot.
Photo Credit: Joshua Rashaad McFadden for The New York Times


ATLANTA — Less than 24 hours after a white police officer shot and killed an African-American man outside a fast-food restaurant, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta announced on Saturday that the city’s police chief had resigned.

Early on Sunday morning, Sgt. John Chafee, a spokesman for the Atlanta Police Department, said the officer who shot the man had been fired.

The shooting left many in the city once again incensed by the death of another black man at the hands of the police — and nervous about the potential for more destructive flare-ups. By Saturday night, protesters had blocked roads and an interstate near the restaurant, a Wendy’s, and apparently set it on fire, according to news reports, with police firing tear gas and flash grenades to try to disperse the crowd.

The authorities said the man, Rayshard Brooks, 27, had run from the police on Friday night after failing a sobriety test and grabbing a Taser from an officer during a struggle with him. Ms. Bottoms said that security footage appeared to show that Mr. Brooks had fired the Taser toward the officer, who was chasing him before he was killed, but that she did not consider that a justification for the shooting.

“While there may be debate as to whether this was an appropriate use of deadly force, I firmly believe that there is a clear distinction between what you can do and what you should do,” Ms. Bottoms said. “I do not believe that this was a justified use of deadly force.”

Sergeant Chafee identified the officer in the shooting as Garrett Rolfe and said he had joined the department in October 2013. The other officer on the scene, Devin Bronsan, was placed on administrative duty, he added.

Ms. Bottoms’s rapid response to the fatal shooting signaled the heightened scrutiny facing law enforcement as a wave of protest against police violence continues in many cities around the country — a movement that has already prompted a number of changes to local police policies, as well as a broader conversation about the ongoing racism that people of color experience in the justice system and nearly every other facet of American life.

In the past, police shootings have rarely prompted such swift and dramatic responses. It is more common for city leaders to stand with the police and urge patience as prosecutors and the police departments themselves conduct reviews. The moves by Atlanta officials on Saturday may have been taken with an eye to the streets, in the hope of dampening a potentially explosive reaction like those that have engulfed many cities over the last several weeks.

The resignation of Atlanta’s police chief, Erika Shields, who is white, was the latest in a series of shake-ups at several large police departments amid the protests after the killing of Mr. Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. In Portland, Ore., Chief Jami Resch, who is white, stepped down this week, saying she wanted a top black lieutenant to replace her. And earlier this month, the mayor of Louisville terminated the city’s police chief after his officers were among those who fired at the owner of a barbecue restaurant, who was black.



Surveillance video footage shows the police chasing and shooting Rayshard Brooks, 27, after an altercation that the authorities said began on Friday night after Mr. Brooks fell asleep in his car. Mr. Brooks was taken to a hospital, where he died after surgery.
Video Credit...Georgia Bureau of Investigations


In Atlanta, a few nights of looting, destruction and tense stand offs with the police followed Mr. Floyd’s death, including an incident in which two college students were pulled by police officers from their car and tased, an encounter that was captured on video. But more recently, the protests in the southern city, as in much of the country, have been mostly peaceful, if no less spirited.

Antonio Brown, an African-American city councilman, has spent days organizing and leading peaceful protests through the city. “It’s like, all the work we’ve done — and then this happens,” Mr. Brown said.

The encounter at the Wendy’s began around 10:30 p.m. on Friday when police officers were called to the restaurant because Mr. Brooks had fallen asleep in his vehicle, which was parked in the drive-through, causing other customers to drive around him, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.

Brooks.jpg
Rayshard Brooks

Mr. Brooks failed a sobriety test, the authorities said, and then struggled with the officers as he was being arrested. A video posted on social media showed him grappling with the two officers who were trying to arrest him. One officer appeared to try to stun him with a Taser after Mr. Brooks threw a punch at him.

As Mr. Brooks ran away, appearing to hold the Taser, one officer chased after him, holding another stun gun. Then, in one video, several gunshots were heard.

The bureau initially said in a statement that witnesses described Mr. Brooks being shot “in the struggle over the Taser.” But on Saturday afternoon, after obtaining surveillance video from the restaurant and reviewing videos on social media, the bureau revised that account, saying it “was based on the officer’s body cam which was knocked off during the physical struggle, preventing the capture of the entire shooting incident.”

“During the chase, Mr. Brooks turned and pointed the Taser at the officer,” the bureau said, adding that “the officer fired his weapon, striking Brooks.”

Mr. Brooks was taken to a hospital, where he died after surgery, the authorities said. One officer was treated at a hospital for an injury and was later released.

L. Chris Stewart, a lawyer who was hired by the Brooks family, said repeatedly at a news conference Saturday night that a Taser was not considered a deadly weapon, and that there was no justification for the police to shoot Mr. Brooks just because he had one in his hands.

He also said that the police could have instead cornered Mr. Brooks and arrested him, instead of chasing him and shooting him. “His life was not in immediate harm when he fired that shot,” Mr. Stewart said of the officer.

He said the officers put on plastic gloves and picked up shell casings before rendering first aid to Mr. Brooks, and also did not check his pulse for more than two minutes after he was shot.

Mr. Brooks’s half-sister, Kiara Owens, 26, said in a phone interview that Mr. Brooks had been working a construction job and had five daughters, including two who were stepchildren, and a sixth daughter on the way. “All he wanted to do is work and come home to his kids,” she said. “The kids have been asking like, ‘Is Daddy coming home?’ And I can’t tell the kids nothing. I can’t tell them.”

The killing was particularly painful for a city sometimes called America’s Black Mecca for its cultural and economic importance to the lives of African-Americans, and its stature as one of the great spiritual and organizing centers of the civil rights movement.

Atlanta remains a majority-black city with significant African-American political representation and a large number of black police officers. That has created a complex interplay between protesters and city authorities as recent protests have unfolded.

Mayor Bottoms, who is African-American, earned widespread praise for her response to the unrest early on, speaking passionately about her role as a black mother and her fears for her black son. Her eloquence elevated her national stature, and put her on a list of potential vice-presidential picks for former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

Erika.jpg
Erika Shields, who resigned as chief of the Atlanta Police Department on Saturday, at her office in 2019.
Photo by: Audra Melton for The New York Times


Ms. Shields had also earned praise for her response to the street protests after Mr. Floyd’s death. Early on, she went out into the streets to speak — and listen — to demonstrators.

But the city’s response has also been marked by controversy and embarrassment, including an incident in which a young black man and black woman were tased and violently dragged from their cars by Atlanta police officers as protests raged downtown. The episode, on May 30, was captured by television reporters and transmitted live as it unfolded.

Two of the officers involved in that incident were fired, and four others were placed on administrative leave. Soon after, the local district attorney, Paul Howard, brought criminal charges against all six officers — a move that Chief Shields criticized in a departmental email that referred to Mr. Howard’s re-election bid, according to The Associated Press.

Ms. Shields, who was sworn in as chief in 2017, will be replaced by Rodney Bryant, a black man who has served as a top police deputy and recently took over as the interim head of the city’s jails, Ms. Bottoms said, adding that the city will launch a national search for a permanent replacement.

ATL 2.jpg
Protesters were arrested in Atlanta after blocking interstate traffic.
Photo Credit: Ben Gray/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, via Associated Press


Ms. Bottoms said that Ms. Shields had decided to resign but would continue to work for the city in a role that was not yet determined. In a statement, Ms. Shields said she was stepping aside “out of a deep and abiding love for this city and this department,” so that they could “build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.”

On Saturday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation released footage from a Wendy’s security camera that showed the last moments of the encounter between the police officers and Mr. Brooks. In the video, Mr. Brooks runs into the frame between two parked police S.U.V.s and a line of cars waiting in the drive-through lane. He appears to have something in his right hand, and he is followed by an officer who also has something in his hand.

While being chased, and in full stride, Mr. Brooks points the object he is holding at the officer. The officer then fires his handgun, and Mr. Brooks falls to the pavement.

Shortly before Ms. Bottoms’s announcement that Ms. Shields would step down, the N.A.A.C.P. called for the chief’s resignation. Rev. James Woodall, the president of its state chapter, said of Mr. Brooks, “there was nothing that he did that was deserving of death.”

“Our overall message is that we are done dying,” the reverend said. “We are done waking up at one or two in the morning to another murder or yet another case of police brutality.”

Richard Fausset reported from Atlanta, Johnny Diaz from Miami and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs from Minneapolis.


Courtesy of The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/13/us/a ... e=Homepage



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Re: Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills a Black Man

Post by stereolab » June 14, 2020, 1:58 pm

The BLM movement should make it clear to all American citizens , when a Policeman orders you to do something, you should comply. Grabbing an Officers Tazer is a stupid act. If I was a US policeman and white, I would not be leaving the precinct house on any call made by the public.

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Re: Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills a Black Man

Post by vlad » June 14, 2020, 2:26 pm

Can our American friends on here tell us why BLM feel the need to torch the Fast food outlet ? not only closing a food outlet for the community but also putting the staff out of work.

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Re: Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills a Black Man

Post by Doodoo » June 14, 2020, 4:23 pm

Vlad
Same as they have the world's BIG Ball of Twine, reason, beacuse they can

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Re: Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills a Black Man

Post by glalt » June 14, 2020, 4:34 pm

I can see that more cops are going to be killed. They will be afraid to pull the trigger and will wait that split second too long.

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Re: Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills a Black Man

Post by RLTrader » June 14, 2020, 4:39 pm

vlad wrote:
June 14, 2020, 2:26 pm
Can our American friends on here tell us why BLM feel the need to torch the Fast food outlet ? not only closing a food outlet for the community but also putting the staff out of work.
Saw the video. Must ask: Why did they call the PIGS? and not send someone out there and wake his ass up? Got off work had a couple and end up Dead, only in America.

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Re: Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills a Black Man

Post by RLTrader » June 14, 2020, 6:59 pm

RLTrader wrote:
June 14, 2020, 4:39 pm
vlad wrote:
June 14, 2020, 2:26 pm
Can our American friends on here tell us why BLM feel the need to torch the Fast food outlet ? not only closing a food outlet for the community but also putting the staff out of work.
Saw the video. Must ask: Why did they call the PIGS? and not send someone out there and wake his ass up? Got off work had a couple and end up Dead, only in America.
Should ad that it sounds like the case in NYC central park where the white "bitch" refused to leash her dog which is required in the park, and a "black bird watcher" asked her to leash her dog, and she called 911, she ended up getting Fired. Lucky they didn't shoot the "bird watcher", one would think. Bet she will have a hard time finding a new job!

About the same as burning the place down, one would think?

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Re: Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills a Black Man

Post by jai yen yen » June 14, 2020, 11:52 pm

RLTrader wrote:
June 14, 2020, 4:39 pm
vlad wrote:
June 14, 2020, 2:26 pm
Can our American friends on here tell us why BLM feel the need to torch the Fast food outlet ? not only closing a food outlet for the community but also putting the staff out of work.
Saw the video. Must ask: Why did they call the PIGS? and not send someone out there and wake his ass up? Got off work had a couple and end up Dead, only in America.
Ah, Drunk and passed out in a car. Had to drive to get there, would have drove away when we woke up. That is a criminal offense and a danger to others. Wake him up and send him on his way, seriously? As well all he had to do was allow himself to be arrested and face the drunk charge, he did not have to punch the cops, grab the taser, try to shoot it at the cops while trying to escape. Anyone with half a brain would not act like that. Play stupid and pay the price. The problem was he was black, if he was white it would be no big deal. People cry the poor black guy being mistreated by the cops and yes some do but the vast majority of criminals are blacks in the U.S. and they are very racist and not very nice to deal with. You need to go to some places in the U.S. as a white person and see for yourself.

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Re: Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills a Black Man

Post by vlad » June 15, 2020, 1:32 am

Have to agree Jai pretty stupid knowing the cops are armed and likely to shoot you then grabs a taser and starts running, only be going to 1 winner.

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Re: Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills a Black Man

Post by papafarang » June 15, 2020, 4:49 am

jai yen yen wrote:
June 14, 2020, 11:52 pm
RLTrader wrote:
June 14, 2020, 4:39 pm
vlad wrote:
June 14, 2020, 2:26 pm
Can our American friends on here tell us why BLM feel the need to torch the Fast food outlet ? not only closing a food outlet for the community but also putting the staff out of work.
Saw the video. Must ask: Why did they call the PIGS? and not send someone out there and wake his ass up? Got off work had a couple and end up Dead, only in America.
Ah, Drunk and passed out in a car. Had to drive to get there, would have drove away when we woke up. That is a criminal offense and a danger to others. Wake him up and send him on his way, seriously? As well all he had to do was allow himself to be arrested and face the drunk charge, he did not have to punch the cops, grab the taser, try to shoot it at the cops while trying to escape. Anyone with half a brain would not act like that. Play stupid and pay the price. The problem was he was black, if he was white it would be no big deal. People cry the poor black guy being mistreated by the cops and yes some do but the vast majority of criminals are blacks in the U.S. and they are very racist and not very nice to deal with. You need to go to some places in the U.S. as a white person and see for yourself.
WTF killing people for traffic offenses ,killing people for running away ? They knew who he was ,they got his car. Let him run and just go and pick him up later . Dumb cops
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Re: Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills a Black Man

Post by RLTrader » June 15, 2020, 6:36 am


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Re: Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills a Black Man

Post by GT93 » June 15, 2020, 7:40 am

Is that real? Why the hell would they even have their guns drawn? Why so many of them? Crazy.
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Re: Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills a Black Man

Post by mickojak » June 15, 2020, 8:01 am

Yeah, that was pretty brutal and looked uncalled for?

Had he committed a violent crime beforehand?
Day before?

We probably won't know?
Did seem strange that a whole armed team approached him, and kept their distance at all times.

Be good to learn the whole story and outcome.

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Re: Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills a Black Man

Post by RLTrader » June 15, 2020, 8:29 am

Mick, looks like "Suicide by Cop" and it worked. Right time, State, and City. He had a BB pistol in his waist band.

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Re: Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills a Black Man

Post by mech_401 » June 15, 2020, 8:36 am

" multiple complaints from public about homeless
guy waving gun around ( facsimile 9mm) working
action and pointing it at passing vehicles"

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Re: Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills a Black Man

Post by mickojak » June 15, 2020, 8:49 am

RLTrader wrote:
June 15, 2020, 8:29 am
He had a BB pistol in his waist band
That explains part of it.
I still think he must have done something else previously?
Threatened someone or something of that nature.

They came very prepared, with radio backup and all.

More than meets the eye, me think?

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Re: Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills a Black Man

Post by RLTrader » June 15, 2020, 9:01 am

He was walking around waving the BB gun and someone called the cops and they sent a swat team armed with AR16 (?)
Albuquerque, NM known to have the worst policing in America, or so I've heard.

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Re: Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills a Black Man

Post by mickojak » June 15, 2020, 9:07 am

RLTrader wrote:
June 15, 2020, 9:01 am
He was walking around waving the BB
So, the message is, don't walk around waving a gun :lol: [-X

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Re: Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills a Black Man

Post by GT93 » June 15, 2020, 9:28 am

And don't visit Albuquerque even if you don't possess a gun.
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Re: Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills a Black Man

Post by mickojak » June 15, 2020, 9:34 am

I have and never had a problem

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