Update: 9:40 P.M. EST (June 17, 2020) — According to numerous reports, several Atlanta’s police officers were refusing to work in reaction to charges brought against their colleagues for the murder of Rayshard Brooks. The walkout appeared to be centered around the city’s Zone 6 area, which cover’s East Atlanta. ADP denied the rumors.
Earlier suggestions that multiple officers from each zone had walked off the job were inaccurate. The department is experiencing a higher than usual number of call outs with the incoming shift. We have enough resources to maintain operations & remain able to respond to incidents.
— Atlanta Police Department (@Atlanta_Police) June 18, 2020
Original story below…
The former Atlanta police officer who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks has been charged with felony murder, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced on Wednesday (June 17).
Garrett Rolfe faces 11 charges including felony murder, five counts of aggravated assault, criminal damage to property, and three counts of violation of oath. Rolfe was fired from the Atlanta Police Department after killing Brooks. If convicted of murder, Rolfe could face life in prison without parole, or the death penalty.
A second officer, David Brosnan, was moved to desk duty after the shooting. Brosnan has since been charged with aggravated assault and two violations of oath, for standing on Brooks’ shoulder and failing to “render timely medical aid.” Howard added that Brosnan admitted to standing on Brooks’ shoulder after he was shot.
“The arrest warrants have already been signed. We are asking Officer Rolfe and Officer Brosnan to surrender themselves by 6 p.m. [Thursday],” Howard said.
Howard recommended $50,000 bond for Brosnan, in exchange for agreeing to testify for prosecutors, and no bond for Rolfe who kicked Brooks in the back as he lay on the ground “fighting for his life.”
Don Samuel, an attorney for Brosnan, denied that his client agreed to testify as a witness for the prosecution, but said that he has been cooperating with the investigation. Samuel called the charges against Brosnan “irrational, unethical, and obviously based on factors which should have nothing to do with the proper administration of justice.”
Brooks, 27, was killed in the parking lot of a Wendy’s fast food restaurant last weekend. Officers were responding to a DUI call placed after Brooks had fallen asleep in his car while in the drive-thru. Howard stated that Brooks was compliant, jovial, and never displayed “any aggressive behavior” during the 42 minutes that he spoke with officers before being shot twice in the back as he ran away.
Though Brooks grabbed Rolfe’s Taser, Howard argued that the officer was aware of the Taser in Brooks’ possession and that it posed “no immediate threat” to the him, or “any other persons.”
Brooks was more than 18 feet away from Rolfe when he shot him in the back, Howard said. “At the time the first shot was fired, the utterance made by Officer Rolfe was ‘I got him.’”