The Atlanta woman accused of setting fire to a Wendy’s fast food restaurant following the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks police was sentenced to a $ 10,000 bail in her first court appearance on Wednesday.
Natalie White, who has been identified as Brooks’ girlfriend, will also have to wear an ankle bracelet and will have to stay off social media if she is released, said Fulton County Magistrate Judge Todd Ashley.
Ashley rejected a request from her attorney, Drew Findling, to have her released without bail because she had no criminal record.
Findling said White’s family “has no funds to make any bonuses.”
“Let’s look at the danger to the community,” said Ashley. “So if someone is alleged to have set fire to a building with others around, whether the building was occupied or not, that would pose a danger to firefighters if they could get to the scene.”
“That Wendy’s is right next to a gas station,” said Ashley. “That is a volatile combination.”
The judge said White is accused of “setting fire to the structure using a torch made from a lighter and some kind of can.”
Fulton County Deputy District Attorney Quintin Lewis had asked that White be held on $ 20,000 bail.
White is charged with first degree arson.
White, 29, was arrested Tuesday after surrendering to police and charged with burning Atlanta Wendy’s on June 13, where Brooks was shot and killed by police the previous day.
Brooks, 27, was questioned by police and quarreled with cops when they tried to arrest him after a field sobriety test outside the fast-food restaurant. He fought the cops and ran out with one of his Tasers when he was shot twice in the back.
Brooks referred to White as his “girlfriend” during the incident, according to images from law enforcement camera and his attorney.
White’s arrest occurred the same day as Brooks’ funeral.
In court Wednesday, Findling said prosecutors’ claim that White lit the fire was “just a false narrative.”
“She did not burn the building,” he said. “She did not burn down the building.”
.
