Protesters decry late arrests in GA jogger death
UPSOT: “There’s a problem in America”
Hundreds of protesters gathered, Friday, outside of a courthouse in Brunswick, Georgia… to denounce the killing of an unarmed black man.
UPSOT: "I would never do nothing for this courtroom."
And to express outrage for the delay in charges brought against two white suspects, for the February 23rd shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery.
Former police officer Gregory McMichael and his 34-year-old son Travis were arrested on Thursday - and charged with aggravated assault and murder.
On Friday - Director of the Georgia Department of Investigation, Vic Reynolds, defended the charges… saying the GBI only got involved in the case late Tuesday evening:
(SOUNDBITE)(English) GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF INVESTIGATION, VIC REYNOLDS:
“We applied the law to the facts pretty quickly with a solid belief that there's sufficient probable cause to charge the McMichaels with felony murder and aggravated assault. I can tell you if we didn't believe it, we wouldn't have arrested them. If we believe it, then we're going to put the bracelets on them - and that's exactly what we did yesterday evening.”
The February shooting was captured on video that surfaced on social media earlier this week - igniting outrage and protests.
The video shows Arbery jogging down a narrow two-lane road and around the McMichaels’ white pickup truck, which had stopped in the right lane with its driver’s door open.
As Arbery crosses back in front of the truck, a gunshot is fired.
Arbery is then seen struggling with a man holding a long gun as a second man stands in the bed of the truck brandishing a revolver.
Two more shots are heard before Arbery stumbles and falls face down onto the asphalt.
The GBI said it was Travis McMichael who fired the fatal round.
A district attorney appointed to the case said - just days ago - that he would ask a county grand jury to decide whether the two men should face charges.
But the men’s arrest by the GBI, one day after the agency opened an investigation into the case, appears to have sidelined any grand jury probe.
