Atlanta
Police Chief Erika Shields resigns in wake of the deadly officer-involved
shooting; Jackie Ibanez reports. Photo: Police Chief Erika Shields and Atlanta
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced on
Saturday that the city's police chief had submitted her resignation just hours
after the fatal shooting of a black man who struggled with police during a
sobriety test.
Photo: Rioters damaged police cars during the protests that were not peaceful.
Bottoms said it was Police Chief Erika Shields' own decision to resign from the role,
which she took in 2016. According to Bottoms, she will remain with the city in
an undetermined position.
"Because of her desire that Atlanta be a model of
what meaningful reform should look like across this country, Chief Shields has
offered to immediately step aside as Police Chief so that the city may move
forward with urgency and rebuilding the trust so desperately needed throughout
our communities," Bottoms said.
Interim Corrections Chief Rodney Bryant will serve as
interim police chief until a permanent replacement is found.
The incident came as Atlanta and other cities were already
reeling from the death of George
Floyd and the mass protests that ensued as a result. Just on
Wednesday, two more Atlanta police
officers were fired in connection with an incident in which two
college students were pulled from a car during protests against police brutality.
With tensions already flaring, Saturday's shooting of
Rayshard Brooks, 27, compounded high-profile cases of black men killed during
police encounters.
Authorities maintain that Brooks grabbed an officer's
Taser and ran with it. During a news conference, Bottoms said she didn't
think the use of deadly force was warranted and that she requested the officer
involved be fired.
“I do not believe that this was a justified use of deadly
force and have called for the immediate termination of the officer,” Bottoms
said.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), which is
investigating the shooting, said the deadly confrontation started with officers
responding to a complaint that a man was sleeping in a car blocking the
restaurant’s drive-thru lane. The GBI said Brooks failed a field sobriety test
and then resisted officers’ attempts to arrest him.
The GBI released security camera video of the shooting
Saturday. The footage shows a man running from two police officers as he raises
a hand, which is holding some type of object, toward an officer a few steps
behind him. The officer draws his gun and fires as the man keeps running, then
falls to the ground in the parking lot.
GBI Director Vic Reynolds said Brooks had grabbed a Taser
from one of the officers and appeared to point it at the officer as he fled,
prompting the officer to reach for his gun.
Shields issued a statement later Saturday: "For more
than two decades, I have served alongside some of the finest men and women in
the Atlanta Police Department [APD]. Out of a deep and abiding love for this
City and this department, I offered to step aside as police chief. 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"
In a scathing statement, the NAACP accused the
Atlanta Police Department of continuing to "terrorize protestors and
murder unarmed Black bodies."
A crowd of roughly 150 demonstrators, including members
of Brooks’ family, gathered Saturday outside the restaurant where he was shot.
Police shut down streets for several blocks around the restaurant as protesters
marched peacefully in the streets.
Gerald Griggs, an attorney and a vice president of
Atlanta’s NAACP chapter, estimated there were 150 people protesting at the
scene as he walked with them Saturday afternoon.
“The people are upset,” Griggs said. “They want to know
why their dear brother Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed when he was merely
asleep on the passenger side and not doing anything.”
On Saturday, Bottoms expressed her condolences for the
Brooks' family.
"There are no words strong enough to express how
sincerely sorry I am for your loss," she said.
"I do hope that you will find some comfort in the
swift actions that have been taken today and the meaningful reforms that our
city will implement on behalf of the countless men and women who have lost
their lives across this country."
The Associated Press and Fox News' Louis
Casiano contributed to this report.
