ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta City Council voted Monday to approve a $1 million settlement payment to Rayshard Brooks’ family. shot dead by a police officer.
Brooks, a 27-year-old black man, was gunned down in June 2020 after clashing with two white police officers. The shooting came just weeks after George Floyd died in the lap of a Minneapolis police officer. It sparked a new wave of demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice in Atlanta.
The special counsel appointed to review the case announced in August that the use of lethal force was “objectively reasonable.” Pete, executive director of the Georgia Attorneys’ Council・Skandarakis is he said he would not prosecute Against Officers Garrett Rolfe and Devin Brosnan, who shot Brooks.
A lawyer for the Brooks family says they remain disappointed that no charges have been filed against the officers, but the Brooks family said Monday they are happy they have reached a settlement with the city. A wrongful death lawsuit was filed in September 2021 by Brooks’ widow Tomica Miller and his estate.
The city council approved the settlement Monday by a vote of 15-0.
“This grieving family has been through a lot in the process. Mr. Brooks’ children lost their fathers, but the resolution of the case will undoubtedly be in their plans for the future when they grow up.” It will help,” the family’s attorney said in a statement.
They also said they “remain hopeful that the Justice Department will intervene in this matter.”
On June 12, 2020, police responded to a complaint of a man sleeping in his car in the Wendy’s restaurant drive-thru lane. Police body camera video shows the two officers having a gentle conversation with Brooks for approximately 40 minutes.
Later, when officers told Brooks that he had drunk too much to drive and attempted to arrest him, Brooks resisted a struggle captured on dashcam video. , fired at Rolfe, who was running. Rolfe fired a gun, and an autopsy revealed that Brooks had been shot twice in his back.
Police chief at the time Erica Shields Resigned less than 24 hours after the shooting, protesters set the Wendy’s on fire, which was later demolished.
Rolfe was fired the day after Brooks died, but his layoff reversed By the Atlanta Civil Service Board in May 2021. The commission found that the city did not follow its own procedures for disciplinary action.