Atlanta Police Release Body and Dash-Cam Footage of Rayshard Brooks Shooting
The Atlanta Police Department released body and dashcam video showing the fatal police shooting of Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old black man who the police say resisted arrest beside a drive-thru restaurant, on June 12.
The Atlanta Police Department (APD) had requested that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) carry out an investigation into the incident, which occurred when police responded to a complaint at a Wendy’s drive-thru just after 10.30 pm.
The GBI said police had responded “to a complaint of a male in a vehicle parked in the drive thru asleep,” blocking other cars.
Body and dashcam footage from the APD shows officer Devin Brosnan waking Brooks and talking with him before Officer Garrett Rolfe arrives to carry out a field sobriety test. The officers are then seen attempting to arrest Brooks. Brooks tries to flee and obtains one of the officers’ taser during the ensuing struggle, the dashcam video shows.
All three move out of frame and gunshots are heard. Both of the officers’ body cameras became dislodged in the scuffle, however, in both feeds the sound of gunshots can be heard.
Brooks was taken to hospital where he died after surgery, officials said.
Footage shot by a bystander went viral in the early hours of Saturday morning, but while the sound of gunfire was audible, footage of the shooting was not captured.
Security-camera footage by GBI does capture the shooting.
A spotlight has been thrown on the incident, which comes amid widespread unrest and protest over racism in policing the disproportionate killing and incarceration of black people in the US.
Stacey Abrams, a prominent Democrat who served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017, said the killing “demands we severely restrict the use of deadly force,” adding: “Sleeping in a drive-thru must not end in death.”
The Georgia NAACP called for the immediate resignation of Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields following the incident. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced Shields resignation hours later, saying she would be reassigned to another role, and called for the officer’s immediate termination, local media reported.
Chief Erika Shields released a statement via the APD’s Facebook page and said “It is time for the city to move forward and build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.”
Local reports said Officer Garrett Rolfe was fired and Officer Devin Brosnan was placed on administrative duty following the incident.
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