Decision on criminal charges in the Rayshard Brooks case could come in the next 24 hours

In just 24 hours a crucial decision could spark widespread unrest in the US after the death of another black man at the hands of police.

There is already simmering anger on the streets of Atlanta after a black man was shot dead by police after he was discovered sleeping in his car at a fast food drive-through.

Soon that rage could be felt far further afield as a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement as a crucial decision on criminal charges in the case looms in less than 24 hours.

An autopsy found that 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks was shot twice in the back late on Friday by a white officer who was trying to arrest him at a Wendy’s restaurant for being intoxicated behind the wheel of his car.

Bodycam footage from the scene shows Mr Brooks co-operating with the officers for more than 40 minutes until a breath test determined his blood-alcohol level was over the legal limit.

As he was being handcuffed Mr Brooks tried to flee after wrestling with officers and grabbing a Taser from one of them. Three gunshots can then be heard.

Bodycam footage shows Rayshard Brooks speaking with Officer Garrett Rolfe. Picture: Atlanta Police Department via AP

The officer who pulled the trigger told authorities that Mr Brooks had fired the Taser at him.

The shooting came at a time when protesters have taken to the streets in cities around the country to demand changes in police practices, and within hours protesters took to the streets of Atlanta to demand justice. Some of them burned down the Wendy’s where Mr Brooks was shot.

In less than 24 hours after the shooting Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced that the city’s police chief had resigned. On Sunday, a spokesman for the police department said that the officer who shot Mr Brooks had been fired.

Now the district attorney in Fulton County is making a decision which could potentially set off a major new wave of unrest in the US.

One of the officers involved, Garrett Rolfe, who attempted to handcuff Mr Brooks and fired his gun three times, is facing charges such as murder, felony murder or involuntary manslaughter over the death.

The district attorney, Paul Howard, told CNN said he would make a decision by Wednesday.

Meanwhile Ms Bottoms has spoken on the case overnight saying she does “not believe that this was a justified use of deadly force”.

‘KILLED LIKE TRASH IN THE STREET’

Overnight, about 20 of Mr Brooks’ children, siblings, cousins and other family members sobbed at a news conference as more than 1000 people gathered not far away at a protest outside the Georgia Capitol.

“Not only are we hurt, we are angry,” said Chassidy Evans, Mr Brooks’ niece. “When does it stop? We’re not only pleading for justice. We’re pleading for change.”

The death of black man George Floyd on May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer held his knee on his neck sparked demonstrations and scattered violence across the US. Now, Mr Brooks’ killing has rekindled those protests in Atlanta.

Ms Evans said there was no reason for her uncle “to be shot and killed like trash in the street for falling asleep in a drive-through.”

Tomika Miller, the widow of Rayshard Brooks, spoke at a news conference overnight. Picture: AP Photo/Ron Harris

“Rayshard has a family who loves him who would have gladly come and got him so he would be here with us today,” she said.

Relatives described Mr Brooks as a loving father of three daughters and a stepson who had a bright smile and a big heart and loved to dance.

His oldest daughter learned her father had been killed while celebrating her eighth birthday with cupcakes and friends, wearing a special dress as she waited for her father to take her skating, the family’s lawyer Justin Miller said.

“There’s no justice that can ever make me feel happy about what’s been done,” Tomika Miller, Mr Brooks’ wife, said. “I can never get my husband back,” she said. “I can never tell my daughter he’s coming to take you skating or for swimming lessons.”

Family members say Mr Brooks was killed ‘like a piece of trash’. Picture: Ron Harris/AP

She asked those demonstrating in the streets to “keep the protesting peaceful,” saying: “We want to keep his name positive and great.”

QUESTIONS ASKED OVER POLICE TACTICS

Cedric Alexander, the former public safety director of Dekalb County, Georgia, who now works as a police consultant, said the shooting will undoubtedly lead to questions about how officers might have defused the situation.

“Here’s a man who took it upon himself to pull off the road to take a nap,” she said. “Could they have given him a ride home, could they have called him an Uber, and let him sleep it off later, as opposed to arresting him?

The killing has renewed protests in Atlanta. Picture: Dustin Chambers/Getty Images

“Now that does not in any kind of way excuse Mr Brooks for resisting arrest. But the question is: Are there other protocols that police could have taken?”

“And people will ask the question, had he been white and pulled onto the side of the road to take a nap and sleep it off, would they have given him a ride home?”

It was also claimed that the police officers involved in the case waited more than two minutes before checking Mr Brooks’ pulse.

“Arrest the cops” being chanted by protesters right now near the Wendy’s where #RayshardBrooks died. pic.twitter.com/oyE3vyny6O

— Matt Johnson (@MattWSB) June 14, 2020

Witnesses said that “the officers went and put on plastic gloves and picked up their shell casings after they killed him – before rendering aid,” lawyer L. Chris Stewart said at a press conference Saturday, a day after Brooks was shot dead trying to avoid a drunk-driving arrest.

“They appear to be caring more about covering their tracks than providing aid,” he said of the officers, Garrett Rolfe and Devin Brosnan.

“Aid that could have saved his life if allegedly he was taken to the hospital and died in surgery. But they didn’t give that to him.

“One kicks him and flips him over,” Mr Stewart claimed of the officers.

“We counted two minutes and 16 seconds before they even checked his pulse,” he insisted of numerous videos of the deadly encounter. “And people wonder why everyone’s mad.”