Atlanta cop who shot dead Rayshard Brooks had several citizen complaints against him but no action was taken
Police records show that the Atlanta police officer who shot Rayshard Brooks in the back as he was running away had several citizen complaints made against him before the incident. Garrett Rolfe and Devin Brosnan were the two officers who had responded to the parking lot of a Wendy's in the city on Friday, June 12, and had calmly talked to Brooks, a 27-year-old black father-of-four, for more than 20 minutes before the former shot him and killed him.
Rolfe was fired from the Atlanta Police Department a day after Brooks' killing, shortly after the police chief announced that he was stepping down from his position. Brosnan, on the other hand, has been placed on administrative duty. CNN cited Atlanta police records and reported that Rolfe had citizen complaints against him dating back to 2015. All of those incidents were accompanied by notes that said no action was taken against him. The only time he faced any punishment of any kind for the infractions was when a 2016 use of force complaint resulted in a written reprimand the following year.
"I could have told people, 'I guarantee you this officer has had issues in the past,'" said L. Chris Stewart, an attorney for Brooks' family. "It's normally that situation. You know who causes issues or who has had prior issues or who has had complaints. A lot of them don't get justified and then they stay on the force. So, it wasn't a surprise."
Rolfe and Brosnan had been called to Wendy's after they received reports that Brooks had fallen asleep in his car in the drive-through lane and people had to resort to driving around him. In bodycam footage, the pair could initially be seen talking politely to Brooks, who tells them that he had been drinking and that it was his daughter's birthday. He told the officers that he would walk home and not drive his car, but isn't allowed to do so after he fails a sobriety test. A scuffle then broke out after Rolfe and Brosnan tried to arrest him, with Brooks managing to snatch one of their tasers and trying to make his escape from the scene. As he was running, he turned back and pointed the taser at Rolfe, at which point the officer took out his gun and shot him. Autopsy results released on Sunday, June 14, declared his death a homicide and said Brooks had died of two gunshot wounds which resulted in organ damage and blood loss.
His family's lawyers have since called for prosecutors to charge both Rolfe and Brosnan with murder, with Stewart revealing at a press conference that the officers had stopped to pick up shell casings on the ground before attending to the wounded 27-year-old. "We talked to some witnesses today who said that the officers went and put on plastic gloves and picked up their shell casings after they killed him, before rendering aid," he told reporters. "We counted two minutes and 16 seconds before they even checked his pulse. And people wonder why everyone's mad. Just watch the video as he lays there dying, the officers stand around. One kicks him and flips him over."
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard Jr. said a decision on whether charges will be filed can be expected as soon as Wednesday, June 17, and could range from voluntary manslaughter to murder. "If this had been a civilian, there's a possibility charges would have been lodged against them already," he told CNN. "What I think people around the country are saying is 'we want one system so that both the police and citizens are treated equally.' That's what we are hoping to do by making our decision on Wednesday."