Thursday, March 28, 2024

Special Prosecutor Drops Charges Against Atlanta Police in Shooting of Rayshard Brooks

FILE- In this June 12, 2020 file photo from a screen grab taken from body camera video provided by the Atlanta Police Department Rayshard Brooks speaks with Officer Garrett Rolfe in the parking lot of a Wendy’s restaurant, in Atlanta. (Atlanta Police Department via AP, File)

*Georgia special prosecutor Pete Skandalakis announced on Tuesday that murder and assault charges will be dismissed against the two Atlanta police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks at a Wendy’s in June 2020, CNN reports

The shooting occurred when police were called on Brooks after he was found asleep in his car in Wendy’s drive-thru. Officers were able to wake him and Brooks consented to a breathalyzer test and was found to be over the legal limit to operate a vehicle. 

Officers Garrett Rolfe and Devin Brosnan attempted to arrest Brooks but he resisted and tried to run away. During the struggle, Brooks grabbed Brosnan’s Taser and fired it at Rolfe, who responded by fatally shooting the married father of four.​​ 

The shooting was captured on bodycam footage, Wendy’s surveillance video, and cellphone video of witnesses. 

READ MORE: DA in Rayshard Brooks Murder Case Requests New Prosecutor

Rayshard Brooks case
Officer Garrett Rolfe and Rayshard Brooks

Rolfe and Brosnan initially faced a slew of charges over the killing but Skandalakis said at a news conference on Tuesday that they acted reasonably so therefore the charges were dropped, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The charges against Rolfe included murder. 

“Based on the facts and circumstances confronting Officer Rolfe and Officer Brosnan in this case, it is my conclusion the use of deadly force was objectively reasonable and that they did not act with criminal intent,” said Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia.

Skandalakis said both officers “acted as reasonable officers would under the facts and circumstances of the events of that night,” and that “Both acted in accordance with well-established law and were justified in the use of force regarding the situation.”

Danny Porter, the former district attorney for Gwinnett County, also appeared at the news conference and, per 11 Alive, he noted that the three key elements listed below were considered when deciding that the officer’s use of deadly force was “reasonable”:

  • That in taking the Taser from Brosnan, Brooks gave Rolfe cause to “reasonably believe the suspect possesses a deadly weapon.” He said under case law a Taser can be considered such a weapon.
  • That in the struggle with Brooks on the ground before he started running away, he had “overpowered” the officers and they “would have had reasonable belief he was an immediate threat of physical violence.”
  • That the above two elements constituted probable cause to arrest Brooks believing he had “committed a crime… to involve infliction or threat of infliction of serious bodily harm.”

“I have a rule: video never lies, but sometimes it doesn’t tell the truth,” Porter said. “Initially with the video, it looked one way. But it became very clear … that a different incident happened than has been released both by former prosecutors and by other sources.”

The police killing of Brooks sparked protests at the Wendy’s where he was gunned down. The location was burned to the ground by demonstrators a day after the shooting.  

Both Rolfe and Brosnan are still employed with the Atlanta Police Department but reportedly remain on administrative duty.

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