The “blue flu” struck 171 Atlanta cops in the days after criminal charges were brought against two white officers in the fatal shooting of a black man, Rayshard Brooks, according to a report.
360aproko found that the biggest sickout was June 19 when 90 officers called out sick. Half of those officers were assigned to the downtown area where most of the protests after the Brooks shooting were taking place.
“The city’s response, I recall early on, seems like they downplayed those numbers. The public should know that’s a significant amount of police officers who did not come to work during that time period,” retired Atlanta police Detective Vince Velasquez told the station in a report Thursday.
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360aproko found 171 officers called out sick between June 17- 20 after obtaining 52 pages of attendance records from the Atlanta Police Department.
The 27-year-old Brooks was fatally shot in the back by Officer Garrett Rolfe, 27, after Brooks fired a Taser in the officer’s direction. He had been running away after a struggle with Rolfe and another officer outside a Wendy’s fast-food restaurant on June 12.
The shooting happened against the backdrop of nationwide protests over the May 25 death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis and prompted the resignation of Atlanta’s top cop Erika Shields.
The sickout began soon after Rolfe and officer Devin Brosnan were arrested June 17 after an investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard into the shooting.
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Rolfe is facing multiple charges including felony murder. Brosnan, 26, is facing an aggravated assault charge. Howard said Brosnan stood on Brooks’ shoulder as he struggled for his life. Brosnan is out on bail, while Rolfe was locked up without bail.
Lawyers for both men have said their clients’ actions were justified.
Velasquez told the station that the large sickout was not something he had seen in his career.
“Some officers have flatly told me that they’re afraid to go to work and to answer a call and commit to a process and feel like they’re doing the right thing, feel like they’re doing their jobs, and then face not just disciplinary action, but prosecution,” Velasquez said.
“This is a unique case because some of the charges that were brought up with these officers were policy violations that were turned into oath-of-office crimes that were alleged by the DA, and some of these things are completely foreign to all of us,” he said.
Interim Chief Rodney Bryant assured the department had sufficient staff to protect the city during the sickout.
