By Aaron Miller-
A police chief in the US city of Atlanta has resigned as protesters took to the streets hours after the fatal shooting by police of a black man.
Cops say Rayshard Brooks was shot after resisting arrest.
Brooks had fallen asleep in his car waiting to pick up food.
GBI director Vic Reynolds told reporters that Mr 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.
“In a circumstance like this where an officer is involved in the use of deadly force, the public has a right to know what happened,” Mr Reynolds told a news conference on a day when protesters gathered at the scene of the shooting and in other areas of Atlanta.
“Out of a deep and abiding love for this City and this department, I offered to step aside as police chief,” Shields said in a statement Saturday. “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.”
“A field sobriety test was performed on the male subject. After failing the test, the officers attempted to place the male subject into custody,” reads the press release. “During the arrest, the male subject resisted and a struggle ensued. The officer deployed a Taser.”
Witnesses say during the struggle the male subject grabbed and was in possession of the Taser. It has also been reported that the male subject was shot by an officer in the struggle over the Taser,” according to the GBI statement.
Later in the day, the GBI said it had reviewed new footage of the incident that shows “Brooks obtained one of the officer’s Tasers and began to flee from the scene.”
“Officers pursued Brooks on foot and, during the chase, Brooks turned and pointed the Taser at the officer. The officer fired his weapon, striking Brooks.
A copy of this video will be released to the public,” the GBI wrote Saturday on Twitter.body cam, which was knocked off during the physical struggle, preventing the capture of the entire shooting incident.”
Bad Timing
The shooting came at a bad time when America is still reeling over police brutality and calls for reforms across the US following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Authorities have not yet released the names of the two officers involved in the shooting.
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Chief Erika Shields, a member of the Atlanta Police Department for more than two decades, stepped down .
Former Assistant Chief Rodney Bryant will serve as interim chief “as we immediately launch a national search for new leadership,”she added.
Shields “has a deep love for the people” of Atlanta, Bottoms said. “Chief Shields has offered to immediately step aside as police chief so that the city may move forward with urgency in rebuilding the trust desperately needed in our communities.”
About 150 protesters marched outside the Wendy’s restaurant where 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks was fatally shot late on Friday.
The killing will add to already boiling over tensions. but should be assessed on the facts of the case.Police brutality is not acceptable in any society, but it can’t be assumed that every time a black man is shot by police, it was excessive force amounting to police brutality.
he shooting occurred just after 10:30 p.m. after two Atlanta police officers were called for a report of a man asleep in the drive-thru, which forced customers to go around his vehicle, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is conducting a probe into the shooting.
Eye witness
A video taken by an eyewitness was aiding their probe into the incident.
The video, posted on social media, shows Mr Brooks on the ground outside his car, as he struggles with two police officers.
Fulton County District-Attorney Paul Howard Jr said his office had “already launched an intense, independent investigation of the incident” while awaiting the findings of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.