Conflicting Reports Emerge Regarding Atlanta Police Callouts and ‘#BlueFlu’

Amid nationwide protests against police brutality, a number of recent incident have caught the national attention, once again stirring the pot on this societal shift.

The latest tensions have come to us from Atlanta, Georgia after the death of Rayshard Brooks, which occurred during an altercation with two APD officers.  During that incident, Brooks attempted to flee from police after wrestling with them on the ground, firing one of the officer’s tasers toward the pursuing cop before being shot and killed by that LEO.

Within days, the officer who fired the shots that killed Brooks was facing charges that could amount to felony murder.  This development was apparently significant enough to compel several Atlanta area police officers to call out of work during the Wednesday-to-Thursday overnight shift.

The Atlanta Police Department said it saw an uptick in the number of officers calling out of work on Wednesday night — hours after local prosecutors announced charges against the ex-cop who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks.

“The department is experiencing a higher than usual number of call-outs with the incoming shift,” the Atlanta PD tweeted. “We have enough resources to maintain operations and remain able to respond to incidents.”

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms appeared on CNN as rumors began to swirl about the mass callout, (tagged #BlueFlu on Twitter), admitting that morale was down among police departments around the country, and possibly “tenfold” in Georgia Capital.

Social media was soon ablaze with falsehoods, rumors, and misleading images depicting the “chaos” that the nation believed would ensue during the night.

There was only one small incident to speak of at the Atlanta Zone 3 police precinct, (which resides in an ultra-affluent neighborhood), where protesters were forced to disperse by police.  Only around 75 people had gathered to demonstrate.

No indication has been made about the impact of these callouts on Thursday’s day shift or beyond.