Atlanta police chief quits after a black is shot and killed by police
Atlanta GA June 13 2020 Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields stepped down from her job Saturday less than 24 hours after one of her officers shot and killed a black man.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms called for the officer who shot the man to be fired.
The change at the top of the Atlanta Police Department comes as protesters take to the streets demanding action following death of 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks.
Brooks was shot in the parking lot of a Wendy’s in southeast Atlanta Friday night after he scuffled with officers and ran away with one of their stun guns, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
The incident began with a call to police at 10:33 p.m. about a man sleeping in a parked vehicle in the restaurant’s drive-thru lane, causing other customers to drive around it, the GBI said in a statement.
Police gave Brooks a field sobriety test, which he failed, the GBI said. He resisted arrest and struggled with officers, the GBI said.
GBI Director Vic Reynolds said Saturday that his department obtained surveillance video of the incident from Wendy’s and reviewed video that witnesses posted on social media.
CNN obtained two videos of the incident, including surveillance video from Wendy’s released by the GBI. The other video was provided by an eyewitness who CNN is not naming because they requested anonymity due to privacy concerns.
The video from the eyewitness begins in the middle of the struggle between Brooks and two police officers. In the video, an officer is heard telling Brooks to “stop fighting” and “hands off the taser.”
The eyewitness told CNN that by the time they arrived on the scene, Brooks’ car was parked in a parking spot.
“The fight started when they tried to make an arrest … after that he took a taser and took off,” the witness said.
As the scuffle broke up, the video shows Brooks beginning to run from the officers and he is seen holding what appears to be a stun gun in his right hand. It appears one of the officers fires their stun gun at Brooks three times as he runs away.
Witnesses told GBI investigators that Brooks had one of the officer’s stun guns.
Shortly after Brooks and one of the officers run by the car of the eyewitness taking the video, a second officer runs by, following Brooks.
Three shots are then heard out of frame.
The Wendy’s surveillance video doesn’t show the scuffle, but shows Brooks running away from where police cars are parked. In that video, Brooks appears to point the stun gun at the Atlanta officer.
“At that point the Atlanta officer reaches down and retrieves his weapon from his holster, discharges it, strikes Mr. Brooks there on the parking lot and he goes down,” Reynolds, the GBI director, said in a press conference on Saturday.
The eyewitness is heard saying in additional video obtained by CNN that Brooks was still breathing as he lay on the ground.
Brooks was taken to a hospital, where he died, the statement said. One officer was treated for an injury and released, the GBI said.
At a news conference Saturday, Bottoms criticized the officer who shot Brooks, saying, “There is a clear distinction between what you can do and what you should do.”
“I do not believe this was a justified use of deadly force,” Bottoms said
Bottoms said it was Shields’ decision to step aside and she will remain with the city in an undetermined role.
In a statement, Shields said she’s stepping down “out of a deep and abiding love for this City and this department.”
“APD has my full support, and Mayor Bottoms has my support on the future direction of this department. I have faith in the Mayor, and it is time for the city to move forward and build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve,” Shields said.
Rodney Bryant, the current head of the city’s corrections department, will serve as the city’s interim police chief.
