The now-former Atlanta police officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks had previously been disciplined for a use of force incident involving a firearm.
Garrett Rolfe, who was fired over the weekend, was reprimanded in September 2016 for a firearms incident, according to NBC News. It marked the only use of force complaint lodged against him in his seven years with the police department. The documents provided to media outlets did not include details about the incident.
His file also included 12 other types of instances, ranging from vehicular accidents to complaints from citizens. Internal investigations exonerated Rolfe in nine of those situations. Two of those incidents, however, both car accidents, led to Rolfe getting a written reprimand and an oral admonishment, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Officer Devin Brosnan, the other officer on the scene when Rolfe shot Brooks, has no record of receiving disciplinary action.
On Friday night, Brosnan and Rolfe were dispatched to a Wendy’s in Atlanta after reports of an allegedly intoxicated man asleep behind the wheel in the drive-thru. The officers conducted a sobriety test but a tussle ensued. During the altercation, Brooks, a black man, reached for and obtained Brosnan’s taser and started to run away. Brooks then turned back toward Rolfe, who was pursuing him, to shoot the taser. Rolfe reached for his firearm and fired three shots. Brooks was later pronounced dead.
Brooks’s death has resulted in protests, both violent and peaceful, amid the growing movement highlighting systemic racism and police brutality.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard is mulling over whether to charge Rolfe in the incident.
