Cop Garrett Rolfe who shot Rayshard Brooks in the back outside Wendy’s ‘could face murder charge’
THE Atlanta police officer accused of shooting Rayshard Brooks in the back outside Wendy’s could face a murder charge, a prosecutor said Sunday. Brooks, 27, was shot three times at the drive-thru on Friday night after he allegedly failed a sobriety test and took a stun gun from one of the officers. He was gunned […]
THE Atlanta police officer accused of shooting Rayshard Brooks in the back outside Wendy’s could face a murder charge, a prosecutor said Sunday.
Brooks, 27, was shot three times at the drive-thru on Friday night after he allegedly failed a sobriety test and took a stun gun from one of the officers.
He was gunned down when he tried to run away from them.
Officer Garrett Rolfe was fired, and could soon be placed in handcuffs for murder, felony murder or involuntary manslaughter, according to authorities.
Brooks “did not seem to present any kind of threat to anyone, and so the fact that it would escalate to his death just seems unreasonable,” Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard told CNN.
He said a decision whether to charge the former officer might come Wednesday.
“Specifically, (the question is if) Officer Rolfe, whether or not he felt that Mr. Brooks, at the time, presented imminent harm of death or some serious physical injury,” Howard told CNN.
“Or the alternative is whether or not he fired the shot simply to capture him or some other reason.
“If that shot was fired for some reason other than to save that officer’s life or to prevent injury to him or others, then that shooting is not justified under the law.”
A lawyer for Brooks’ family said there was no reason for the officers to shoot him.
“If the officer had been a bit more empathetic and a bit less scared, we probably wouldn’t have a dead client,” L. Chris Stewart told CNN.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms had said that “I do not believe that this was a justified use of deadly force.”
She had called for the immediate firing of Rolfe – and announced that she had accepted the resignation of Police Chief Erika Shields.
Atlanta police on Sunday released body-camera and other footage related to the fatal shooting.
Lawyers for Brooks’ family claim the cops involved in the shooting collected their shell casings before calling for help.
About 150 protesters marched Saturday night around the Wendy’s where Brooks was shot.
Cedrick Alexander, the former public safety director of Georgia‘s Dekalb County, said the shooting will undoubtedly lead to questions about how officers might have differently handled the situation.
“Here’s a man who took it upon himself to pull off the road to take a nap,” Alexander said.
“Could they have given him a ride home, could they have called him an Uber, and let him sleep it off later, as opposed to arresting him?
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“Now that does not in any kind of way excuse Mr. Brooks for resisting arrest.
“But the question is: Are there other protocols that police could have taken?
“And people will ask the question, had he been white and pulled onto the side of the road to take a nap and sleep it off, would they have given him a ride home?”