UNITED STATES – Is history repeating itself in the United States? The Atlanta police chief resigned on Saturday, June 13 after a police officer fatally injured a suspect during an attempted arrest. Demonstrations erupted to protest the death of the victim, a 27-year-old African American.
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.
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“ATLANTA: We have COMPLETELY blocked Highway 75! Traffic is interrupted! What do you think we meant when we shouted ‘no justice, no peace’? We are NOT done! Rayshard Brooks, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Amaud Arbery and many more! ”
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“Oh my god the protesters in Atlanta COMPLETELY blocked Hwy 75 after the murder of Rayshard Brooks”
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“Update: Wendy’s is officially on fire”
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 of Erika Shields, who had been in charge of the Atlanta Police Force for more. 20 years old.
“Because of her desire for Atlanta to be a model of what meaningful reform should be across the country, Erika Shields tendered her immediate resignation as chief of police,” the mayor said in televised statements.
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A “physical struggle with the agents”
The facts occurred Friday night in Atlanta, the state capital 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 after 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, had fallen asleep in his car on the drive-through driveway at Wendy’s restaurant, according to an official report, and establishment workers called the police because his vehicle blocked customers.
The man was alcoholic and resisted when police tried to arrest him, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation report said. CCTV footage shows “that during a physical struggle with the officers, Brooks grabbed the Taser from one of the officers and fled,” according to the report.
“Officers chased Brooks on foot and during the chase Brooks turned and pointed the Taser at the officer. The officer used his gun, hitting Brooks, ”the document reads. Brooks was rushed to a hospital and underwent surgery but died soon after, the report says, which adds that an officer was injured.
The mayor said the officer who fired the fatal shot should be removed. The latter, identified as Garrett Rolfe, was fired from the Atlanta police force, and a second police officer was suspended, according to ABC News.
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