Sen. Tim Scott (R-Sc) Addressing the Shooting Death of Rayshard Brooks by Police in Atlanta Friday Night.

The question is when the suspect turned to fire the taser, what should the officer have done? …That situation is certainly a far less clear one than the ones that we saw with George Floyd and several other ones around the country.

• Atlanta police attempted to arrest Brooks, after responding to a complaint a man had fallen asleep in his car, blocking traffic at a Wendy’s drive-thru lane.
• As the officers attempted to arrest Brooks for driving while intoxicated, Brooks resisted arrest, and a violent struggle between the three ensued.
• Brooks grabbed an officer’s taser and attempted to flee the scene.
• Officers say Brooks fired the taser at them, a fact investigators say they cannot confirm at this time.
• Video of the White officers, taken by the officers body-camera, bystanders, and surveillance video capture different angles of the arrest, altercation, and shooting of Brooks, who was Black.
• In the aftermath, Atlanta’s police chief resigned and protestors took to the streets, setting the Wendy’s on fire and blocking a major interstate.
• The officer who shot Brooks was fired. The other officer was placed on administrative duty.
• Why It Matters: As America continues to reel from a series of high-profile killings of Black Americans, the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks adds another example of a killing by law enforcement and allegations of excessive force. With a national conversation on race ongoing, lawmakers at the city, state and federal level are attempting to create improvements in law enforcement. The results: TBD.
• Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate has introduced legislation in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.

“One of the challenges that we have in a split second decisions is the need for more training. That’s why the de-escalation aspect of my bill and the House bill is so critically important so that we don’t revert back to basic fear plus adrenaline leads us to the genetic code, so to speak. That’s a hard balance to- to achieve. So in order for us to provide more opportunities to de-escalate these situations and reduce the use of force, we have to have effective training.”

An overview of the shooting: CLICK HERE

Here’s a link to several videos of the incident: CLICK HERE

LEARN MORE:

One of the few African-American police chiefs in the nation speaks on leadership during this time of crisis: CLICK HERE