The police officer who killed Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta has officially been charged with felony murder, in addition to 10 other counts.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced the charges against former officer Garrett Rolfe, who was fired in the wake of Brooks’ death, on Wednesday. Devin Brosnan, the other officer on the scene, was placed on administrative leave from the department and will face three lesser charges.
As we previously reported, Brooks was shot by police after he had fallen asleep in a Wendy’s drive thru. Footage from the tragic shooting showed Brooks complying with the officers’ questions, even offering to walk home rather than drive. When the confrontation became physical, Brooks attempted to flee with Rolfe’s taser before being shot twice in the back.
DA Howard noted that the cops’ behavior after the shooting was being taken into consideration. According to NBC News, Howard said:
“When we examined the videotape and in our discussions with witnesses, what we discovered is during the 2 minutes and 12 seconds, Officer Rolfe actually kicked Mr. Brooks while he laid on the ground, while he was there fighting for his life. Secondly, from the videotape we were able to see that the other officer, Officer Brosnan, actually stood on Mr. Brooks’ shoulders while he was there struggling for his life.”
Howard also said the officers also failed to tell Brooks that he was being arrested for driving under the influence, as is required by Atlanta PD. In addition, shooting a fleeing suspect goes against Atlanta’s policies. Basically, there are a lot of good reasons for holding these guys accountable, if the obvious murder wasn’t enough for you.
Arrest warrants have been issued for both men, and they’ve been asked to surrender by Thursday. In a surprising turn of events, Brosnan has already agreed to be a state’s witness in the case. Howard explained the unprecedented move:
“I don’t remember a circumstance where we had an officer, particularly in a case this important, to step forward and say that they would cooperate with the state.”
Rolfe had several citizen complaints filed against him prior to Brooks’s death, and a use-of-force incident in 2016 that resulted in a written reprimand.
Brooks’ widow Tomika Miller has advocated for the offending officers being sent to prison, but these charges do little to make up for the loss of life here. As she said at a press conference on Monday:
“I can never get my husband back. I can never get my best friend. I can never tell my daughter, ‘Oh, he’s coming to take you skating,’ or for swimming lessons. It’s just going to be a long time before I heal. It’s going to be a long time before this family heals.”
There’s no good news here, but hopefully there’s at least a chance for real justice.
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