Atlanta police officer is quickly fired and Chief Erika Shields resigns after the killing of Rayshard Brooks at a Wendy’s parking lot
MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2020
An Atlanta police officer who fatally shot a black man in his back Friday night was fired, officials said Sunday, as the Georgia man’s death sparked a fresh wave of anger across the nation, over police departments’ use of deadly force in interactions with black people.
Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard told reporters that former officer, Garrett Rolfe, could face a murder charge, and a decision on whether to bring charges could come as early as this week. Atlanta’s police chief, Erika Shields, resigned on Saturday.
The killing in a Wendy’s parking lot added a rallying cry to protests demanding an end to police brutality and systemic racism that have fanned out nationwide and internationally from Minneapolis since the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in that city.
Over the weekend, protests coincided with Pride Month for the LGBTQ community as demonstrators rallied in support of black transgender rights in Brooklyn, while several streets in Los Angeles closed down for a demonstration that combined racial-injustice protests with the city’s annual pride march for gay and transgender rights.
In Atlanta, marches and rallies were held outside of Centennial Olympic Park and the Wendy’s where the police shooting occurred, according to local news reports and social-media posts.
Body-camera footage released by the Atlanta Police Department shows Mr. Rolfe and a second officer, Devin Brosnan, approached 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks while he was asleep in his car in a Wendy’s restaurant’s drive-through. Footage showed Mr. Brooks answering officers’ questions, saying he had no weapons on him and mentioning his daughter’s birthday. The video shows Officer Rolfe patting down Mr. Brooks and the officers calmly conducting a breathalyzer and sobriety test over a 40 minute period.
When deciding to arrest Brooks, he suddenly fought with the officers and pulled a taser from the belt of one of the officers. A struggle began as Brooks then points the taser in the direction of Officer Rolfe as Mr. Brooks ran away, according to a Wendy’s surveillance video released by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. It isn’t clear from the video whether Mr. Brooks fired the taser. Officer Rolfe then shoots Mr. Brooks, who was still running, the footage showed. The state agency said it is investigating the incident.
The district attorney weighing evidence into the death of Rayshard Brooks at the hands of Atlanta police officer said he’ll decide whether to charge by Wednesday.
Officer Garrett Rolfe, seen on video shooting multiple times at Brooks, who resisted arrest, got into a scuffle with police and stole one of the officer’s stun gun.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard told reporters there are three charges his office is exploring.
Howard said a count of murder would be “directly related to an intent to kill.” He is also closely examining a felony murder charge.
“That is a death that comes as a result of the commission of an underlying felony. In this case, that underlying felony would be aggravated assault,” Howard said.
He said the only other possible charge would be a voluntary manslaughter.
“But I believe in this instance, what we have to choose…, if there’s a choice to be made, is between murder and felony murder,” Howard to reporters.
The district attorney said he had “no idea” why Police Chief Erika Shields resigned.
“I believe that what we need in this country is a national change– national change in our laws, national change in our policies,” Howard said. “… I’m hoping this time that the change will be a lot more prominent.”
At least seven Minneapolis police officers have quit and another seven are in the process of resigning, citing a lack of support from department and city leaders as protests over George Floyd’s death escalated.
Current and former officers told The Minneapolis Star Tribune that officers are upset with Mayor Jacob Frey’s decision to abandon the Third Precinct station during the protests.
Demonstrators set the building on fire after officers left. Protesters also have hurled bricks and insults at officers, numerous officers and protesters have been injured and the state has launched a civil rights investigation into the department.
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar told reporters on Sunday that the department is “rotten to the root.”
Mylan Masson, a retired Minneapolis officer and use-of-force expert, says officers don’t feel appreciated.
In Seattle, Black clergy leaders from the Seattle area held a prayer gathering and conversation Sunday with Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best to explore how they can advocate for police reform while also supporting Chief Best.
The gathering came amid protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody and protesters’ occupation of the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct and surrounding area, now being referred to as the “Capitol Hill Organized Protest,” or CHOP.
But Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan has implied that the Capitol Hill occupation could last some time, saying in an interview that “we could have a summer of love.”
Now faith leaders are trying to decide how to support Chief Best while also supporting the goal of police reform in Seattle. Speakers at Sunday’s prayer gathering included Andre Taylor, community organizer and founder of Not This Time!; Ezra Maize, NAACP religious affairs chair and pastor at Ebenezer AME Zion Church, and many others from around the city and region.
Health experts are questioning President Donald Trump’s decision to rally his supporters at a large indoor arena in Oklahoma.
They cite the danger of infection spreading among the crowd and sparking outbreaks when people return to their homes.
The COVID-19 case numbers in Oklahoma are low but rising. The Trump campaign itself acknowledges the risk in a waiver attendees must agree to for the rally next Saturday in Tulsa. Whether the campaign will take any of the precautions advised by state and local health departments is unclear.
Oklahoma health authorities say anyone who attends a large public event should get tested for COVID-19 shortly afterward.
Nearly 43,000 pounds of ground beef including packages sold at Walmart stores are being recalled because of possible E. coli contamination.
The Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced late Saturday that Lakeside Refrigerated Services, of Swedesboro, New Jersey, is recalling select packages of ground beef produced on June 1. The products, which were sold under brand names including Thomas Farms and Marketside Butcher, have an establishment number “EST. 46841” inside the USDA mark of inspection.
Doomscrolling isn’t in the dictionary just yet…. but…
A newish word that’s come about during the pandemic is “doomscrolling” — the act of reading the seemingly endless stream of upsetting news headlines that emerge on social media in times of distress. The word has become so popular the past couple of months that Merriam-Webster recently flagged it as one of the words it is “watching” but hasn’t yet met its criteria for entry into the dictionary.
… A close cousin to doomscrolling is “doomsurfing.”
The Tamagotchi virtual pet from the 90’s is back.
Tamagotchi, the virtual pet that was so popular in the ’90s is coming to North America again in July, with a new product called Tamagotchi On Wonder Garden. The $59.99 toy will launch on July 26. Online pre-orders are available at Target, Amazon, Walmart and GameStop. The On series updates the ’90s toy with more modern technology: You’ll find the original pets, but now with better graphics in color, and on a device that can connect to a mobile app.
… Unlike the original Tamagotchi, the new one can go outside its house, celebrate your birthday with colorful balloons and a festive tune, and even travel to different lands. It can also get married and raise children, who will later grow into adults, and continue the family tree. And the difficulty level isn’t as tough as the original toy. In this version, you can drop off your pet at a hotel for daycare.
We’re still wrapping our heads around the fact that General Mills has really brought Dunkaroos back to shelves.
It’s like they knew our ’90s-kid hearts needed this kind of happiness. Now there are rumors that Dunkaroos Cereal is on the way. Instagram account @cereallife was the first to post about the leaked family-sized Dunkaroos Cereal. According to them, the new cereal is “coming,” although there is no release date yet.
… Dunkaroos are snack packs with two sections: one that’s filled with cookies and the other with icing. General Mills has recently brought back the Vanilla Cookies and Vanilla Frosting with Rainbow Sprinkles variety. Now it looks like those flavors are being transformed into cereal form.
Coca-Cola Strawberry is now available
In January 2020, soda drinkers around the world got excited about the new strawberry-flavored Coca-Cola. That excitement also came with jealousy, because the fruity beverage was only being released in Japan. Well, that second emotion can disappear now, because if you’re located in the United States, you can get your hands on the bottle.
Coca-Cola Strawberry is now available at FYE, an entertainment retail store. Think of it like the soda you know got hit with a hint of strawberry flavor. Maybe you’ll like it even better than the Coca-Cola Cherry Vanilla, which was also recently released.
Workers removing a statue of Civil War leader Jefferson Davis from the Kentucky state capitol in Frankfort Saturday discovered unexpected artifacts hidden inside the base: a bottle of Glenmore Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, and a copy of the State Journal newspaper from October 20, 1936, the day the statue was erected.
… Kentucky’s Historic Properties Advisory Commission voted overwhelmingly Friday to remove the Davis statue. Davis, a one time US Senator who died in 1889, was president of the Confederate states. He was later indicted for treason but not tried.
Signs you’re becoming your dad…
You start becoming your father at age 37, according to a new survey. Not only that, but 68 percent of those studied say they feel more like their father with every passing year. Thirty-seven percent said they take grilling very seriously because of their dad, while over one in three (35%) said they get their handy skills from them.
… Twenty-two percent mute commercials on TV because of their father, one in four grunt when getting off the couch now, and another one in four say they fall asleep on the couch with the game on, just like dad did.
That brown rice is good for you.
Among rice lovers, people who eat brown rice or other whole grains seem to have a lower risk of developing diabetes than those who eat white rice. Among more than 197,000 U.S. adults followed for up to 22 years, Boston researchers found that eating more refined white rice was associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, while eating more brown rice was associated with a lower risk of the disease.
Whenever the surf looked good, Australian Pete Cole would grab his GoPro before hitting the beach.
The waterproof camera would capture stunning footage of the 12-year-old surfer as he rode the waves. But on a fateful February afternoon a wave knocked the GoPro into the sea.He searched for the camera but Pete eventually accepted that his prized GoPro had been taken by the sea — that is until months later when the sea gave it back.
… The GoPro was found this month washed up by a couple walking their dog along the beach. Jenny Masters said her husband spotted the device sitting in the sand, just like the other items they’d found during their daily dog walks.
… Back at home, the couple put the memory card in their computer and searched through its photos and videos, hoping to find its owner. They posted some of the files on Facebook and within minutes they figured out Pete owned the GoPro. Jenny says it “was like a message in a bottle but with a modern day twist.”
Seattle man Michael Flor is a former long-time COVID-19 hospital patient who, when he unexpectedly did not die, was jokingly dubbed “the miracle child.”
Flor, age 70, came so close to death that a night-shift nurse held a phone to his ear while his wife and kids said their final goodbyes. Flor battled with coronavirus for 62 days.
… He’s recovering nicely these days at his home but he says his heart almost failed a second time when he got the hospital bill the other day. The total tab for his time with the coronavirus: $1,122,501.04. All in one bill it’s about 181 pages. The bill is technically an explanation of charges, and because Flor has insurance including Medicare, he won’t have to pay the vast majority of it.
… Just the charge for his room in the intensive care unit was billed at $9,736 per day. Due to the contagious nature of the virus, the room was sealed and could only be entered by medical workers wearing plastic suits and headgear. For 42 days he was in this isolation chamber, for a total charged cost of $408,912.
… He also was on a mechanical ventilator for 29 days, with the use of the machine billed at $2,835 per day, for a total of $82,215. About a quarter of the bill is drug costs.
… For the two days when his heart, kidneys and lungs were all failing and he was nearest death, the bill runs for 20 pages and totals nearly $100,000 as doctors “were throwing everything at me they could think of,” Flor says. In all, there are nearly 3,000 itemized charges, about 50 per day. The charges don’t include the two weeks of recuperating he did in a rehab facility.
… Flor has insurance for most of the bill and there are special financial rules that apply only to COVID-19. Congress set aside more than $100 billion to help hospitals and insurance companies defray the costs of the pandemic, in part to encourage people to seek testing and treatment (including those with no insurance). As a result, Flor probably won’t have to pay even his Medicare Advantage policy’s out-of-pocket charges, which could have amounted to $6,000.
And finally for the day… a new study claims humans share 15 basic desires and values in life.
Here’s the list: curiosity, food, honor, fear of rejection, sex, physical exercise, order, independence, vengeance, social contact, family, social prestige, aversion to pain, citizenship, and power. The list was developed after 2,500 people answered a 300-question survey.