A total of eight police officers in Atlanta have resigned over the last 16 days.
“We are now going into the third consecutive week of unabated protests in which officers have worked 12-hour shifts seven days per week,” said Atlanta Police Foundation President and CEO Dave Wilkinson in a statement. “As you can imagine, their stress levels are exacerbated by physical and emotional exhaustion.”
Wilkinson said the foundation is “grateful for the sacrifices they are making every day and will continue to support them while accelerating the programs under the Atlanta Police Foundation’s mission in order to address police reform and other issues the protests and their aftermath have illuminated.”
The organization previously reported it had lost 19 officers in the last 10 days but said in the statement that a miscommunication led to an inaccurate head count.
Atlanta is one of dozens of cities across the country that in recent weeks have been the sites of massive demonstrations and riots protesting the death of George Floyd and similar cases. Floyd, a black man, died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes during an arrest on May 25.
New demonstrations began in Atlanta over the weekend following a separate case involving police and the death of another black man, Rayshard Brooks, on Friday night.
Atlanta police were called to a Wendy’s parking lot after a restaurant employee called, saying a man passed out in his car in line at the establishment’s drive-through. Police said that when they arrived at the scene, they suspected Brooks was driving while under the influence and administered a sobriety test, which he failed.
As officers began to take Brooks into custody, he resisted, wrestling with officers on the ground and eventually taking a Taser off one of their belts. Brooks ran from the scene and, at one point, turned around and appeared to fire the Taser in the direction of the officers.
An officer fired his gun three times and killed him. The officer who fired his gun at Brooks has been fired, and another has been placed on administrative leave. No charges have been filed against either officer as of Tuesday morning.
The next day, Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields resigned, and Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on Monday ordered use-of-force reforms to be put into effect within the department.
“It angered me, and it saddened me beyond words,” Bottoms said.
The incident, which was also caught on video by bystanders, has sparked more charges of systemic racism in the city’s Police Department and demands from Black Lives Matter activists that major police reforms be enacted.
Some of the otherwise peaceful demonstrations advocating for equal justice in policing have turned violent, with police officers across the country reporting being spit on, peppered with water bottles or bricks, and being put in a compromised position.
