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The Atlanta officer who fatally shot black man Rayshard Brooks has been terminated, while his partner has been placed on administrative duty, the city’s police revealed to media.


The disciplinary measures come amid protests that erupted in Atlanta on Saturday night, after the 27-year-old black man died in a police shooting the day before. The officers in question responded to a call over reports that Brooks fell asleep in the drive-through line at a local Wendy’s.

He failed a field sobriety test and scuffled with police as he resisted arrest, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), which obtained the surveillance video from the scene. The cop opened fire after Brooks apparently tried to run away with their taser.

Authorities have identified the two officers involved as Devin Bronsan and Garrett Rolfe, who joined the Atlanta police in 2018 and 2013 respectively.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms accepted the swift resignation of Police Chief Erika Shields over the death of Brooks.

Demonstrators on the streets of Atlanta, among them members of Brooks’ family, demanded the arrest of the two officers. Meanwhile, the GBI said it will conduct an “independent investigation,” then hand it over to the local district attorney for review.

Large crowds of protesters stopped traffic on a nearby interstate highway, marching towards the parking lot of the fast food restaurant where the fatal police-involved shooting occurred.

The Wendy’s restaurant was later set on fire, burning for nearly an hour before firefighters arrived to put out the flames with the help of police cover.

Attacking the Wendy’s seemed to be retribution for the fatal incident, as employees at the restaurant were the ones who apparently called the police about the “suspicious” man sleeping in his car.

RT


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