The city of Atlanta has agreed to pay the family of Rayshard Brooks, who was killed by police in a Wendy’s parking lot last year, reports ABC News.
On Monday, the city council voted unanimously, 15-0, to approve the payment, settling the wrongful death lawsuit against the city filed by Tomika Miller, Brooks's widow last year.
In the wrongful-death suit, the attorneys alleged that Brooks' rights were violated by the city and that his death was "senseless and unjustified,"
The legal team representing the Brooks family released a statement confirming the settlement.
“This grieving family has been through so much during this process. 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," the family's lawyers said in a statement.
The attorneys also hope that the DOJ would continue to investigate the case and bring charges against the officers involved in the deadly shooting.
“While we are disappointed that prosecutors didn’t pursue a criminal case against the officers involved in Mr. Brooks’ death, we continue to hold out hope that the Department of Justice will intervene in this matter,” their statement continued.
Brooks was fatally shot by an officer on June 12, 2020, when authorities responded to a call that a man had fallen asleep in his vehicle in the drive-thru of a Wendy's restaurant in 2020. He was discovered by Officer Garrett Rolfe and Officer Devin Brosnan with bodycam footage revealing that they had a calm interaction with him for nearly 40 minutes. After failing a sobriety test, the officers tried to take Brooks into custody and a physical altercation took place.
In the surveillance footage, Brooks is shown holding a stun gun that he took from an officer before running away. As he appeared to turn around and aim the weapon, Officer Garrett Rolfe, fired his weapon at him, hitting Brooks in the back.
The shooting occurred just two weeks after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police causing mass protests against police brutality across the country.
In August 2022, Pete Skandalakis, Executive Director of the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia, dismissed all charges against Rolfe, who shot and killed Brooks, saying he was justified in using deadly force in the encounter. Brosnan also had all charges dropped against him.
"Given the quickly changing circumstances, was it objectively reasonable that he used deadly force? And we conclude it was," Skandalakis said in his decision.
Presiding over Brooks’ funeral, Senator Raphael Warnock, who’s also the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, highlighted the long history of police brutality against the Black citizens of America.
"Rayshard Brooks is the latest high-profile casualty in the struggle for justice and the battle for the soul of America," Warnock said in his eulogy. "This is about him, but this is much bigger than him."
