On Saturday night, Atlanta erupted over the death of Rayshard Brooks at a local Wendy’s restaurant by police. Atlanta Police released photos of a woman suspected in starting the fire.
The blaze led to gutting the Wendy’s restaurant on University Avenue in southwest Atlanta on Saturday night.
On Friday night, 27-year-old Brooks went to get a snack at a Wendy’s restaurant.
Atlanta police initially responded to a 911 call reporting a suspicious person at Wendy’s. The two officers stopped him for what they said was a DUI, but Brooks had only fell asleep in his car blocking the drive-thru.
Then events escalated from there.
They reportedly conducted a sobriety test, but when they attempted to arrest the man, identified as 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks, a struggle ensued.
Deputy Chief Timothy Peek, with the Atlanta Police Department, described officers’ numerous attempts to deploy Tasers.
“Ultimately, when the officer used the Taser, it was ineffective for the suspect,” Peek said. “It did not stop the aggression of the fight.”
Peek added preliminary information shows Brooks was able to take an officer’s Taser from him and use it against the officers.
At some point during the struggle over the Taser, Brooks was shot by an officer.
A Fatal Pattern
Brooks’ death comes at a time when increased scrutiny over police brutality and systemic racism has the world marching across the globe. It is a fact that persons of color are being disproportionately eliminated by police.
Rayshard Brooks was a married father of four children — three girls of his own, ages 8, 2 and 1, and to a 13-year-old stepson.
According to his attorney, L. Chris Stewart, on Friday, Brooks had celebrated his oldest daughter’s 8th birthday.
“A man that, earlier that day, was celebrating his daughter’s 8th birthday at the arcade,” Stewart said. “He has little girls who are 8, 2, and 1 — and a stepson, 13; who we sat with today, and watched them play and laugh and be oblivious to the fact that their dad was murdered.”
At least 36 arrests were made during Saturday night’s protests.
In a statement, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation says that they have been called in to investigate the shooting. The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office has also launched its own investigation.
The world can see now what people of color have known all along; to this world, your life only matters if you rise up and scream, “Black Lives Matters.”
The cases continue to pile up where death of a person of color seems routine.