More than a week after his death as a result of a police operation, dozens of people have said goodbye to the African American Rayshard Brooks.
The funeral service took place on Tuesday in the historic Ebenezer Baptist Congregation in Atlanta, where civil rights activist Martin Luther King (1929-1968) also preached. His daughter Bernice gave a speech during the funeral service. “I know the pain of growing up without a father,” she said. “There can be no peace in Atlanta or anywhere in our country where there is no justice. No justice, no peace!” King complained that Atlanta was not immune to the problem of “systematic and structural racism”.
Police officer charged with murder
Brook’s death in a police operation on June 12 had fueled nationwide protests against police violence and racism in the United States following the George Floyd case in Minneapolis. The 27-year-old family man fell asleep at the wheel of his car while waiting in line at a fast food restaurant. Two white police officers who had been summoned found that he had been drinking too much and tried to arrest him. A scuffle broke out, Brooks grabbed an officer’s stun gun and fled. One of the two police officers fired shots that hit him in the back and fatally injured him. The officer is charged with murder, among other things. If convicted, he faces life imprisonment without parole or even the death penalty. – dpa
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