Atlanta police chief resigns over killing of black American man

Erika Shields, Atlanta Police Chief, has resigned Saturday 13th June 2020 following the killing of Rayshard Brook by the Atlanta Police officers on Friday night.

Her resignation came in less than 24 hours, following Brook’s death.

Atlanta Mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, announced the resignation during a news conference on Saturday, saying that she had accepted the resignation of the Police Chief Erika Shields.

The police Chief’s resignation is apparently in response to the request put forward by the Reverend James Woodall, the president of the Georgia NAACP, who requested that the Atlanta Police Chief, Erika Shields, be fired due to the brutal killing of Rayshard Brook.

Amidst heightened tensions in the United States over police brutality, demonstrators took to the street of Atlanta to protest the brutal killing of another African American man on Friday who was reported to be sleeping in his car.

Rayshard Brook, 27 was shot in the back and killed by Atlanta police Friday night after someone called the police and complained that Brooks was sleeping in his car at restaurant at Wendy’s drive-thru saying that Brooks was blocking other cars in line.

According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI), Brooks failed sobriety test and the police decided to place him under arrest but he resisted.

Explaining the incidence that led to Brook’s killing, Chief Timothy Peek, Atlanta Deputy Police said the police officials tried using Taser on Brooks but that had no effect on him.

In seconds-long struggle between the police officers and Brooks when the Taser failed to work on him, Brook took the Taser from one of the officials and started running away. The officials ran after him for seconds and finally shot him in the back three times. Brooks died during surgery in a hospital.

Gerald Griggs, a lawyer and Atlanta’s NAACP chapter vice president confirmed that on Sunday afternoon there about 150 protesters in the street protesting the killing.

Speaking about the outrage, Griggs said people are really upset about the killing and are demanding an explanation for his killing.

“The people are upset. They want to know why their dear brother Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed when he was merely asleep on the passenger side and not doing anything,” Griggs said.

He said that even though Brooks resisted arrest, “they could have used nonlethal force to take him down.”

Responding to the incident, Fulton County District Attorney, Paul Howard said, “My office has already launched an intense, independent investigation of the incident.”

He also said that members of his staff were on scene shortly after the shooting, and we have been in investigative sessions ever since to identify all of the facts and circumstances surrounding this incident.

In a tweet on Sunday, Stacey Abrams the Georgia Democrat said that sleeping in a car should not have resulted in the man’s death.

“The killing of #RayshardBrooks in Atlanta last night demands we severely restrict the use of deadly force. Yes, investigations must be called for – but so too should accountability,” Abrams tweeted.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigations said one of the officers suffered minor injuries. He was taken to the hospital and later released.