Garret Rolfe, a former Atlanta Police officer, was charged Wednesday with 11 counts, including felony murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, in the slaying of Rayshard Brooks.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced that Brooks’s cooperative demeanor before the arrest attempt played a role in the decision to charge Rolfe. He suggested that Brooks didn’t appear to present a threat.
“Brooks never displayed any aggressive behavior during the 41 minutes and 17 seconds,” Howard said after his team studied the video evidence,” he stated.
Rolfe also kicked Brooks while he was on the ground and “fighting for his life,” Howard said.
“Once Mr. Brooks was shot, there is an Atlanta policy that requires that the officers have to provide timely medical attention to Mr. Brooks or to anyone who is injured. But after Mr. Brooks was shot, for some period of two minutes and 12 seconds, there was no medical attention applied to Mr. Brooks,” the district attorney remarked.
Howard also said that Brooks, 27, was “never informed” that he was being arrested for driving under the influence.
A second officer, Devin Brosnan, was placed on administrative leave after the incident. He faces three charges, including aggravated assault.
Brooks was killed in a Wendy’s parking lot in Atlanta after Rolfe and Brosnan responded to a 911 call about a man who seemed intoxicated sleeping in his car in the drive-thru. The caller reportedly told the dispatcher that Brooks was parked in the middle of the drive-thru, forcing other cars to drive around his vehicle.
Police body camera video shows Brooks and officers having a relatively calm and respectful conversation for more than 40 minutes before things rapidly turned violent. Brooks wrestled with officers, snatched one of their stun guns and turned and pointed it at one of them as he ran through the parking lot.
An autopsy revealed Brooks was shot in the back twice.
The shooting sparked new demonstrations in Georgia’s capital against police brutality, after occasionally turbulent protests in response to George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis had largely simmered down. Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields resigned less than 24 hours after Brooks died.
Amid the protests, the Wendy’s location was burned to the ground. Police and fire officials have released photos of two suspects who might be responsible for the arson.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times
