-ATLANTA, GA - On August 26, 2022, the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, along with the Atlanta NAACP, held a press conference requesting the Department of Justice investigate the Atlanta Police Department. There announcement follows a string of high profile police shooting wihtout resolution including Rayshard Brooks, Jimmy Atchison, Caine Rogers, Oscar Cain, and Jamarion Robinson.
Further, the announcement came on the heels of the decision from special prosecutor Pete Skandalakis that the officers involved in the case of Rayshard Brooks death would not face charges. Raysgard Brooks was killed on University Ave in 2020 after police attempted to arrest him for DUI at a Wendy’s restaurant in Atlanta. The Rayshard Brooks case was one of four (4) high profile cases of police bruality or racial intolernace from 2020 that led to the racial awakening in the United States. Those cases included George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and Ahmaud Arbery.
During the press conference, Gerald Griggs, president of the Georgia NAACP State Conference, stated he’s sick and tired and wants families to have answers.
“We convened this press conference to request that the Department of Justice open a patterns and practice investigation into the Atlanta Police Department,” he said. “After hearing the attempts to justify the shooting of Rayshard Brooks, we need federal intervention because it continues to happen.”
President Griggs along with Richard Rose outlined a pattern of police bruaity that has plauged the Black Community in Atlanta for years. "We must restructure policing in America and it can start in Atlanta. I call politicians and police to stop living in the state of denial."
Rose called out prosecutors for inferring that there is no bias in cases where white police officers shoot Black men and again emphasized the importance of transparency.
"It's time for change in America and it should start in Atlanta," stated Griggs at the close of the press conference.
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