On June 12, 2020, while the nation was in the throes of unrest following the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, Officers Garrett Rolfe and Devin Brosnan of the Atlanta Police Department (APD) went to check on Rayshard Brooks, who had fallen asleep in his car in a Wendy’s parking lot.
Brooks woke up and began to scuffle with the officers. He grabbed Brosnan’s taser and aimed it at Rolfe’s head. Rolfe responded by shooting Brooks, who died.
Because tensions in urban areas were high, the killing of a black man at the hands of two white police officers ratcheted up the pressure. Protestors took over the Wendy’s and burned it. Gang activity spiked near the site, and someone shot and killed eight-year-old Secoriea Turner as her mom drove by the site on July 4, 2020.
Paul Howard, who was Fulton County’s corrupt district attorney at the time, slapped a bevy of charges on the two officers.
“Rolfe was subsequently charged with eleven crimes including felony murder, aggravated assault and more. Brosnan was charged with aggravated assault and two counts of violation of oath of office,” reports WSB Radio.
When Fani Willis (she of Trump investigation fame) defeated Howard in the 2020 election, she recused herself from the case, citing a conflict of interest (something she didn’t think she needed to do in her investigation of Trump). The case went to Pete Skandalakis, a veteran prosecutor who now serves as executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia.
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On Tuesday, Skandalakis announced that he was dropping the charges against the officers.
“Based on the facts and circumstances confronting Officer Rolfe and Officer Brosnan in this case, it is my conclusion the use of deadly force was objectively reasonable and that they did not act with criminal intent,” Skandalakis announced.
He acknowledged that the politically-charged events of 2020 played into the charges that the officers faced.
“This case of Devin Brosnan and Garrett Rolfe is not like the George Floyd case,” Skandalakis told reporters. “This is not a case in which an officer was kneeling on a prone suspect for nine minutes. It’s nothing like that. Nor is it like the Ahmaud Arbery case, where armed citizens were chasing a person down through a neighborhood. This case, its facts, are different. Its facts are distinct. But you can’t ignore the fact that all of this was happening about the same time.”
The APD said in a statement that the two officers remain on administrative duty.
“We have faith in the criminal justice system, and we respect the special prosecutor’s decision in this case,” the APD statement said. “Both officers will undergo Georgia POST (Peace Officer Standards and Training Council) recertification and training.”
The president of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers Local 623 union applauded the decision.
“At the news conference, they laid out the facts and the evidence. We think justice was served,” remarked APD Lt. Kevin Knapp. “We feel that our officers acted accordingly and in accordance with the law, and that was divulged today.”
Knapp also acknowledged that the city is on high alert in the wake of the announcement.
Mayor Andre Dickens issued the statement that you would expect from a woke Democrat mayor.
Dickens said that his “heart continues to ache for the family of Rayshard Brooks. He was a father whose absence will forever be felt by our community.”
“Over the last two years, our country has been engaged in important discussions about policing in America. We must maintain our commitment to the work of creating safe communities through collaboration between police and the people they serve,” Dickens’ statement continued.
Pray for these officers as they can now move on with their lives, and pray for Atlanta in the wake of a decision that’s sure to stir up controversy.
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