Atlanta Police Chief Resigns After Officer Shoots and Kills Black Man

Atlanta’s police chief resigned on Saturday, less than 24 hours after a police officer shot and killed a man at a Wendy’s drive-through who had run from the police after failing a sobriety check and taking an officer’s Taser, the authorities said.

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta said that security footage appeared to show that the man, Rayshard Brooks, 27, who is black, had fired the Taser toward the officer, who was chasing him before he was killed.

“While there may be debate as to whether this was an appropriate use of deadly force, I firmly believe that there is a clear distinction between what you can do and what you should do,” Ms. Bottoms said. “I do not believe that this was a justified use of deadly force.”

In addition to the resignation of the police chief, Erika Shields, who just weeks earlier had engaged with demonstrators protesting the killing of George Floyd, Ms. Bottoms said that she had also called for the immediate firing of the police officer who killed Mr. Brooks.

Ms. Shields, who is white and took over the department in 2017, will be replaced by Rodney Bryant, a black man who has served as a top police deputy and recently took over as the interim head of the city’s jails, Ms. Bottoms said, adding that the city will launch a national search for a permanent replacement.

Ms. Bottoms said that Ms. Shields had made the choice to resign and would continue to work for the city, but her role was not yet determined.

The encounter in the Wendy’s drive-through began on Friday night when police officers arrived on the scene and found that Mr. Brooks had fallen asleep in his vehicle, causing other customers to drive around him, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the shooting.

Mr. Brooks failed a sobriety test, the bureau said, and then struggled with officers as he was being arrested. Videos posted on social media showed him grappling with the two officers who were trying to arrest him. One officer appeared to try to stun him after Mr. Brooks threw a punch at him.

As Mr. Brooks ran away, appearing to hold the Taser, one officer chased after him, holding another stun gun. Then, in one of the videos, several gunshots can be heard.

On Saturday afternoon, after obtaining surveillance video from the restaurant and reviewing videos on social media, the bureau revised its initial account of what had happened, saying its earlier statement — which claimed that Mr. Brooks was killed during the struggle with officers — “was based on the officer’s body cam which was knocked off during the physical struggle, preventing the capture of the entire shooting incident.”

“During the chase, Mr. Brooks turned and pointed the Taser at the officer,” the bureau said, adding, that “the officer fired his weapon, striking Brooks.”

Mr. Brooks was taken to a hospital, where he died after surgery. One officer was treated for an injury during the episode and was later released.

The shooting comes as protests and unrest have erupted in Atlanta and cities across the country in response to the death of Mr. Floyd, a black man who died in the custody of Minneapolis police officers on May 25.

Days later, protesters in Atlanta climbed to the top of a large red CNN sign outside the news media company’s headquarters and spray-painted messages on it. People also jumped on police cars and tossed rocks at the glass doors of the Omni Hotel.

The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office said it was conducting its own investigation into the Brooks shooting, separate from the bureau’s.

“Our thoughts and our sympathies are extended to the family of Rayshard Brooks as we must not forget that this investigation is centered upon a loss of life,” the district attorney, Paul L. Howard Jr., said in a statement.

State and local officials spoke out about the shooting.

The Rev. James Woodall, the state president of the N.A.A.C.P., said on Saturday of Mr. Brooks, “there was nothing that he did that was deserving of death.”

“Our overall message is that we are done dying,” the reverend said. “We are done waking up at 1 or 2 in the morning to another murder or yet another case of police brutality.”

Former candidate for governor Stacey Abrams said on Twitter that the killing of Mr. Brooks “demands we severely restrict the use of deadly force.” She added, “sleeping in a drive-thru must not end in death.”