Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Police Shooting Brooks Sparks Outrage

WASHINGTON: The Atlanta police chief Erika Shields, resigned on Saturday after a video of a police officer shooting dead a black man Rayshard Brooks ( 27)  went viral and triggered a fresh wave of protests in the city. People expressed their outrage at the police over their brutality and racism.

According to reports, some local media has telecasted the visuals of a few hundreds of people protesting on Saturday against the killing of the black man.

The police officer who shot the black man was identified by the Atlanta police as Garrett Rolfe and he was later dismissed.

As per the news aired on a local Television channel, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said that Erica Shields, who had been working for more than two decades in the department, was immediately ordered to step aside as police chief following the incident.

A group of Protesters blocked a highway near Wendy's restaurant before Saturday night. The Atlanta police said that they have arrested around 12 of the protesters

The nationwide protests against police brutality and racism in the US were ignited by the killing of African-American man George Floyd on May 25, who died in the police custody.

Floyd died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes. The video footage of the incident was broadcast by the local media and it went viral on the social media platform, which triggered protests around the country. 

Did Police Kill Brooks?

According to reports a few of Wendy's employees on Friday called police to complain against Brooks, saying that he was asleep in his car and was creating trouble to customers near the premises of the restaurant.

Brooks failed a sobriety test and resisted to cooperate with the police, and then the police tried to arrest him.

He tried to escape from the spot and during a physical struggle with police, Brooks obtained Tasers from one of the officers and tried to flee from the spot.

Police chased him, and during the chase, Brooks pointed the Taser at the officer. Then the police officer fired his weapon, striking Brooks.

He was immediately rushed to the hospital for treatment but died after surgery. One officer was injured in the incident.

Brooks has four children and had celebrated the birthday of his eight-year-old daughter on Friday.

He is the 48th person who was shot dead by police officers and Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) has been asked to investigate the incident.

Brooks' cousin said that he had watched this incident on the Internet. He further added that it was the most painful thing for him to watch the video and wake up in the morning.