Brooks’ widow says she had feared for his safety
ATLANTA – Rayshard Brooks’ wife, Tomika Miller, worried about Brooks’ safety after other unarmed Black men, such as George Floyd, were killed by police.
Miller said Brooks was often profiled by police because he had tattoos on his face.
“I’ve always said, ‘Baby, I don’t ever want that to be you,’” Miller said in an emotional news conference with Brooks’ family Monday. “And he was always like, ‘No, it’s going to change, it’s going to change.’ He always tried to stay positive about everything.”
On Friday, Miller’s fears became a reality. A police officer shot Brooks, 27, to death outside a Wendy’s fast-food restaurant in Atlanta.
Police were sent to the Wendy’s around 10:30 p.m. and conducted a sobriety test on Brooks, who failed the test, then resisted officers’ attempts to arrest him, according to investigators.
Video shows Brooks fleeing officers after a struggle and then falling to the ground. Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vic Reynolds said Brooks grabbed a Taser from one
“I can never tell my daughter, ‘Oh he’s coming to take you skating, or swimming lessons.’ It’s going to be a long time before I heal. It’s going to be a long time before this family heals.”
Tomika Miller Widow of Rayshard Brooks
officer and appeared to point it at the officer as he fled. The officer fired three shots.
Family members remembered Brooks as a loving father of three daughters, ages 8, 2 and 1, and a 13-year-old stepson.
He took his daughter Blessing to get her nails done and pick up something to eat in celebration of her eighth birthday hours before he was killed.
The following day, Blessing had a birthday party with cupcakes and put on a special birthday dress, anticipating that her father was taking her skating.
“Blessing, Memory and Dream will never get to see their father again,” Brooks’ niece Chassidy Evans said Monday. “Not only was he a girl dad, loving husband, caring bother, and most importantly to me, my uncle I could depend on. Rayshard Brooks was silly, he had the brightest smile, and biggest heart and loved to dance since we were kids.”
His first cousin Gymaco Brooks said he had seen Rayshard just a week and a half ago when he stopped by while Gymaco played chess with Brooks’ older brother.
Gymaco Brooks said they all caught up and shared a few laughs and drinks.
“He was always happy, he was always smiling,” Gymaco Brooks said. “Life shouldn’t be this complicated. Life shouldn’t be where we have to feel some type of way if we see a police or somebody of a different color.”
Family attorney L. Chris Stewart, said the officer who shot Brooks should be charged with “an unjustified use of deadly force, which equals murder.”
Stewart said attorneys were with the family Saturday and watched the children “play and laugh and be oblivious to the facts that their dad was murdered.”
“You can’t have it both ways in law enforcement,” Stewart said. “You can’t say a Taser is a nonlethal weapon … but when an African American grabs it and runs with it, now it’s some kind of deadly, lethal weapon that calls for you to unload on somebody.”
The nation is grappling with questions of race and police brutality after the death May 25 of George Floyd, who was pinned to the ground by a Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on his neck for almost nine minutes. Floyd’s death has sparked three weeks of protests in cities large and small across the USA.
Many Atlanta businesses were looted and vandalized during the protests. Evans said their family supported Atlanta police during the protests before Brooks was killed.
“We stood with the Atlanta Police Department when (protesters) were tearing up our city and said ‘This doesn’t happen here, leave them alone,’” Evans said. “And here we are three weeks later, those same police took something away from our family that we will never get back.”
The officer involved in the Brooks shooting was fired, and another was placed on administrative duty, the police department announced Sunday. The police department released body camera and dash camera footage from both officers. Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields also stepped down.
Crystal Brooks, who said she is Rayshard Brooks’ sister-in-law, joined protesters outside the Atlanta Wendy’s on Saturday night.
“He wasn’t causing anyone any harm,” she said. “The police went up to the car, and even though the car was parked, they pulled him out of the car and started tussling with him. He did grab the Taser, but he just grabbed the Taser and ran.”
Miller pleaded for the public to peacefully protest. Meanwhile, she grieves the loss of the man she says was her best friend.
“I can never tell my daughter ‘Oh, he’s coming to take you skating or swimming lessons,’” Miller said. “It’s going to be a long time before I heal. It’s going to be a long time before this family heals.”