Former Atlanta Police officer Garrett Rolfe who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks at a Wendy’s restaurant was fired on Saturday, June 13, 2020, while the police chief resigned and was reassigned to another position.
The second officer, Devin Bronsan, who was also seen struggling with Brooks in south Atlanta, has been relegated to administrative duties with the department pending an investigation, according to CNN.
Moreover, the Wendy’s store on University Avenue where Brooks struggled with officers before losing his life was burned, Cable News Network stated. Meanwhile, other protesters shut down Interstate 75/85 by forming a human chain to cut off the flow of traffic on Saturday evening.
The episode began when police found Brooks asleep and reportedly intoxicated behind the wheel of his car in the drive-thru section of Wendy’s on University Avenue at about 10:33 p.m. on Friday evening. He was so inebriated, in fact, that he could not identify what city he was in, according to the officer’s bodycam video released by the APD. After he failed the mandatory field sobriety tests, officers attempted to place Brooks under arrest.
Brooks reportedly resisted arrest and wrestled with the two officers on the ground in the Wendy’s parking lot. According to the video obtained by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Brooks managed to grab one of the officer’s tasers and freed himself from their grasp. He then began fleeing with the taser and reportedly pointed it at Officer Garrett Rolfe before he was shot and killed.
The following day, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced Rolfe’s termination at a press conference.
Bottoms also informed the media that Rodney Bryant, who was running the city’s corrections department, would immediately replace former police chief Erika Shields, who has been reassigned to another section within the police department.
Shields continues to support Mayor Bottoms despite her voluntary resignation as the city’s top cop.
In a statement, Shields says she was stepping down “out of a deep and abiding love for this city and this department.”
“The 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.
Flip the page to see the video of the attempted arrest of Brooks.
