The two Atlanta police officers charged in the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks turned themselves in to the Fulton County Jail on Thursday, June 18. Garrett Rolfe, the former officer charged with murdering Brooks, will make his first appearance to answer the 11 charges against him in a Fulton Magistrate Court judge at noon on Friday, June 19. He is being held without bond. Officer Devin Brooks, charged with aggravated assault, was booked on and released on a $50,000 signature bond. Brooks, who the two officers were arresting for DUI before a scuffle broke out, was fatally shot on the night of June 12 at the Wendy’s restaurant on University Avenue.
Dave Wilkinson, president of the Atlanta Police Foundation, announced June 18 that Atlanta Police Department officers would each receive a $500 bonus for the extra hours worked during the weeks of protest, according to a report in the AJC. The bonus is being provided through private donations, Wilkinson said. The bonuses come after reports of an officer walkout on the evening of June 17 in the wake of charges being filed against the officers in the Rayshard Brooks shooting. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms acknowledged in an interview with CNN that same evening that :morale is down with police departments, and I think ours is down tenfold.”
Decaturish was live on the scene just before midnight on June 18 as the Confederate “Lost Cause” monument was removed from the Decatur Square. The obelisk was erected in 1908 to, ostensibly, commemorate the soldiers, but now widely considered as relic of the Jim Crow-era and white supremacy. A judge recently ordered the removal of the Confederate monument from the square, calling it a public nuisance. Crowds cheered as a crane plucked the obelisk from its base, which will be removed by Friday morning.
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