The family of Rayshard Brooks will receive $1 Million from the Atlanta Braves.
In the year 2020, Mr. Brooks was shot and killed by two Atlanta police officers as they attempted to arrest him.
On Monday, the city of Atlanta reached a settlement with the estate and the widow of Rayshard Brooks, a Black man who was killed by a white police officer in the year 2020 and whose death sparked protests across the country. The settlement calls for the city to pay a total of $1 million to settle the lawsuit.
On June 12, 2020, Mr. Brooks, 27, was shot by one of the officers while he was in a Wendy's parking lot. The unanimous vote of the City Council came about two and a half months after prosecutors reached the conclusion that neither of the officers involved in the incident committed any crimes during the incident. The Council also came to the conclusion that the use of deadly force had been justified in this situation.
Although the children of Mr. Brooks have lost their father, settling the case will undoubtedly assist them with future plans as they come of age, according to a statement released by attorneys for Mr. Brooks' family from the firm Stewart Miller Simmons Trial Attorneys.
In addition, they mentioned that the family was "disappointed that prosecutors did not pursue a criminal case against the officers involved in Mr. Brooks' death."
During a meeting of the Council on Monday, Councilman Dustin Hillis stated that the settlement money would be paid to Mr. Brooks's widow, Tomika Miller, as well as the Brooks estate and the law firm that represented them.
In addition, he mentioned that the city attorney had arrived at the conclusion that "the city of Atlanta's potential financial exposure in defending plaintiff's claims is in excess of the settlement amount."
In their lawsuit alleging wrongful death, Mr. Brooks's family claimed that the killing of their loved one was "senseless and unjustified" and that the city had violated his civil rights in the process.
Around three weeks after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a police officer, Mr. Brooks was also taken from this world. The killing in Atlanta sparked new rounds of street protests in 2020 and became part of a larger national debate about the treatment of African-Americans by police officers in the United States.
On June 12, 2020, the authorities stated that Mr. Brooks had dozed off while driving through Wendy's in the drive-through lane of the restaurant. The officers and Mr. Brooks had a peaceful exchange at the beginning of their encounter with one another. But after forty minutes, when the officers moved in to arrest him, the situation escalated into a violent state. Mr. Brooks struck one of the officers, then snatched the Taser from the other, activated it, and started running away.
The moment when one of the officers, Garrett Rolfe, who had worked for the department since 2013, fired his handgun three times while he was chasing Mr. Brooks, who fired the Taser he had seized as he ran was captured on video and widely shared online. Rolfe had been with the department since 2013.
The prosecution claims that Mr. Brooks was shot twice, once in the back and once in the buttocks. He was taken to a hospital, but the authorities said that he passed away after undergoing surgery there.
In the aftermath of the shooting, angry protests led to the destruction of the Wendy's restaurant where the shooting took place, and the Atlanta police chief at the time, Erika Shields, resigned from her position.
Officer Rolfe was initially charged with murder in addition to ten other criminal counts in connection with the fatal shooting of Mr. Brooks, and the other officer, Devin Brosnan, faced a number of charges that were not as severe as the initial charges. However, the district attorney's office announced in August that they would not pursue any of the charges.
Officer Rolfe was terminated from his position with the Police Department the day after the shooting, but the city's Civil Service Review Board recommended that he be reinstated in May 2021.