Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Black Man Fatally Shot By Officer At Wendy’s Drive-Thru

TOPLINE

Amid widespread national protests over racism and police brutality, Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields stepped down on Saturday after Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old black man, was fatally shot by an officer the night before at a Wendy’s drive-thru.

KEY FACTS

Crucial quote

“The people are upset,” Gerald Griggs, an attorney and a vice president of Atlanta’s NAACP chapter said, according to the Associated Press. “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,” adding that even though Brooks struggled with officers “they could have used nonlethal force to take him down.”

Key background

 The Atlanta Police Department had already been criticized after two college students were yanked out of their car during the George Floyd protests earlier this month. The officers involved were eventually fired for using excessive force in tasing the couple in the car, breaking windows and forcing them to the ground before handcuffing them with zip ties—breaking the male student’s arm in the process.