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Atlanta Mayor Orders New Police Rules After Killing of Rayshard Brooks

HeadlineJun 16, 2020

In Atlanta, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has ordered the police department to alter its use-of-force policy following the police killing of Rayshard Brooks, an unarmed African American man who was shot dead in the parking lot of a Wendy’s. Police first approached Brooks because he had fallen asleep in his car. Bottoms described his killing as a “murder.” On Monday, Rayshard Brooks’s family spoke to the media. This is his cousin Jymaco.

Jymaco Brooks: “If you ask how this young Black man was, look at your children when you see them laugh — that innocence, that joy, that pureness of soul — and you had a glimpse of what we lost. You have a glimpse of what it feels like.”

Meanwhile, the Atlanta Police Department has revealed the officer who shot Brooks — Garrett Rolfe — had been the subject of several citizen complaints dating back to 2015, but no action was ever taken against him. Officer Rolfe was fired after Friday’s shooting. Newly released disciplinary records show the other officer at the scene, Devin Brosnan, also discharged his firearm on Friday. Brosnan has been placed on administrative leave.

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