An Atlanta-area district attorney is considering charging the police officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks with murder.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said on Sunday that a decision about filing charges against officer Garrett Rolfe would be made by his office “around Wednesday” of this week.
“He [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,” he told CNN, adding, “It just seems like this is not the kind of conversation and incident that should have led to someone’s death.”
Howard explained that there are several charges being considered, including murder, felony murder, and involuntary manslaughter.
“There are really three charges that are relevant: one would be the murder charge in the state of Georgia. That charge is a charge that is directly related to an intent to kill,” he said. “The second charge is felony murder, and that is a charge that involves a death that comes as a result of the commission of an underlying felony. In this case, that underlying felony would be aggravated assault.”
“The only other charge that might make any sense at all would be some voluntary manslaughter charge. But I believe in this instance, what we have to choose between, if there’s a choice to be made, is between murder and felony murder,” he added.
Rolfe fatally shot 27-year-old Brooks, who was suspected driving under the influence, on Friday at a Wendy’s in the Georgia capital. Footage from the incident showed Brooks taking an officer’s Taser during the arrest and pointing it at him as he ran away. Rolfe then fired three shots at Brooks, who was later pronounced dead.
“There’s one good thing about video,” Howard noted. “Because in the video, we actually get a chance to hear the officer’s first statement after the shooting took place. And what the officer said is not that his life was saved. What his statement was, is, ‘I got him.'”
“Specifically, officer Rolfe, whether or not he felt that Mr. Brooks, at the time, presented imminent harm of death or some serious physical injury. Or the alternative is whether or not he fired the shot simply to capture him or some other reason,” he said. “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.”
Rolfe has since been fired, and another officer who was present was placed on administrative duty. The Atlanta police chief also resigned.
Brooks’s death set off a fresh wave of protests over the weekend in Atlanta, one of the many cities that had already seen weeks of demonstrations against police brutality and systemic racism following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, in Minneapolis police custody last month.
