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VIDEO: DE-ESCALATE!: The story of an intense protest on an Atlanta interstate

One year later, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution releases a documentary on one of the most intense police reform protests of summer 2020. Video by Ryon Horne
June 11, 2021

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s newest documentary, “DE-ESCALATE!,” tells the story of an intense protest that happened after Rayshard Brooks was killed by an Atlanta police officer in June 2020. Hundreds of protesters, who’d gathered at the restaurant site, shut down the nearby Downtown Connector, one of the busiest interstates in Atlanta.

A small group of Georgia State Troopers arrived and had to figure out how to safely clear the road.

What followed was a night of intense confrontations between demonstrators and police – and between troopers. “DE-ESCALATE!” was created with footage from AJC videographer Ryon Horne and AJC photographs, along with interviews and documents obtained through the Georgia Open Records Act.

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