Rayshard Brooks: Atlanta police get $500 bonus despite protest

Atlanta police have each been given a $500 bonus just one day after scores of cops walked off the job in protest over murder charges filed against the officer who shot dead Rayshard Brooks. 

The Atlanta Police Foundation said it had paid a $500 bonus to every Atlanta police officer on Thursday. 

It adds up to about $2 million. 

No city funds will be used to pay out the bonuses and it will instead come from money the foundation has raised, the group said. 

‘We felt like it was important at this time because the morale is at the level, there is the rumors of other officers leaving, and we just do not want to lose good police officers,’ Dave Wilkinson, of the Atlanta Police Foundation, told WSBTV. 

The foundation said the bonuses were a thank you for the long hours put in by officers over the past three months. 

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They will also be putting funds towards purchasing 20 new police cars that have been destroyed during protests across the city in recent weeks.

The news came as a number of Atlanta cops called out sick to protest the filing of murder charges against Garrett Rolfe in the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks in a Wendy’s parking lot last week. 

Atlanta’s interim police chief has acknowledged that members of the force feel abandoned amid protests demanding massive changes to policing. 

Interim Chief Rodney Bryant said the sick calls began Wednesday night and continued through Thursday, but he said the department had sufficient staff to protect the city. 

It’s not yet clear how many officers called out or if it continued into Friday.  

‘Some are angry. Some are fearful. Some are confused on what we do in this space. Some may feel abandoned,’ Bryant told the AP of the officers. 

‘But we are there to assure them that we will continue to move forward and get through this.’ 

Rolfe was taken into custody on Thursday after being charged with felony murder and a string of other charges over Brooks’ shooting death. 

Rolfe surrendered to authorities on Thursday evening and is now being held at the Fulton County jail. 

He was fired by the city’s police department on Saturday – a day after the shooting in the parking lot of a Wendy’s fast food restaurant. 

Rolfe was charged with felony murder and 10 other counts after video showed him shooting Brooks twice in the back with his service handgun after a scuffle in which Brooks stole his taser.   

A second officer on the scene, Devin Brosnan, did not discharge his weapon. He faces a handful of lesser charges, including aggravated assault and violation of his oath.  

The killing of Brooks came amid a national wave of protests sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. 

That officer, Derek Chauvin, has been charged with second-degree murder. Three other Minneapolis police officers have been charged with aiding and abetting.