Protestors in the United States set fire to the Wendy’s restaurant where Rayshard Brooks, was shot by a police officer. 27-year-old Brooks was shot on Friday during a struggle.
Atlanta is one of several US cities protesting the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. Protests began outside the restaurant late on Friday. On Saturday demonstrators in central Atlanta held placards with Brooks’ name and ‘Black Lives Matter’ written on them.
One of the police officers involved in the shooting has been dismissed, and the other put on administrative duty.
According to the New York Times, the officers were called to the eatery because Brooks’ car was blocking the drive-through lane. He had apparently fallen asleep in it.
Footage released by the police department, from a body camera, shows the officers administering, with Brooks consent, a sobriety test and then a breathalyser test. The two officers then try to handcuff Brooks, during which their cameras fall off. Security camera footage, however, shows them grappling with Brooks, who can then be seen snatching an officer’s Taser. The other officer then uses his Taser on Brooks. Both officers run out of the video’s frame, but gunshots can be heard, following which Brooks can be seen on the ground. Brooks later died in hospital.
One of the officers was injured in the incident.
Lawyers for Brooks’ family said the Taser Brooks had grabbed was a non-lethal weapon, so there was no call to use lethal force against him. Attorney Chris Stewart said, “You can’t shoot somebody unless they are pointing a gun at you.”
The NYT reports that the shooting has resulted in Atlanta police chief Erika Shields handing in her resignation.
Umm Muhammed Umar
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