Law Enforcement Atlanta

Rayshard Brooks was a married man who had a total of four children - three girls of his own, ages 8, 2 and 1, and a 13-year-old stepson. He lived in Atlanta Georgia, and although on probation rules, he was said to be working at a Mexican restaurant there (I can't confirm this).

Fatal Shooting Incident In Atlanta 2020

On the 12th of June 2020 he was fatally shot, in a confrontation with the police in Georgia, in the car park of a Wendy's fast-food restaurant in Atlanta.

When the police officers initially approached his car, body-cam footage showed that he was asleep at the wheel and blocking a drive-through lane. An officer qualified to perform a sobriety test was requested. Officer Garrett Rolfe was the qualified officer who responded.

Sobriety Test Being Administered

He was apparently compliant with the police for around 40 minutes, and denied driving there saying that he had been dropped off, although why his car was blocking the drive through lane, with him asleep inside was not clearly explained. But having established that they had suspicions about his alcohol levels, after they had conducted a sobriety test in the Wendy's car park and he had failed the breath test with a reading on 0.108mg blood alcohol content (0.08% blood alcohol content is considered to be too much to drive in Georgia), they attempted to arrest him (possibly not informing him that DUI was the reason for the arrest). Arrest for DUI whilst under probation is considered a “substantive violation” — which can lead to a longer probation sentence, prison time, or fines for the defendant.

So with that possibly in mind, instead of complying, he fought the two armed officers and punched Officer Rolfe and grabbed a Taser from one officer .... he then turned and fired it at them as he was running away. One of the officers, Garrett Rolfe opened fire on Brooks, hitting him twice in the back, and he died of his injuries.

Officer Rolfe and his partner Officer Devin Brosnan both faced charges (in the wake of the killing of the new saint Floyd George), both faced charges with Rolfe facing 11 charges related to the death, including murder. If convicted, he could have faced the death penalty. While Officer Brosnan faced charges of aggravated assault and violating his oath. Officer Rolfe was sacked within days of the incident and Officer Brosnan suspended on administrative leave. Atlanta Police Department Chief Erika Shields voluntarily stepped down from her position leading the force immediately after the incident.

After two years of this hanging over them, a special prosecutor in Georgia has finally ruled that the death was 'legally justified', because the Taser would be considered legally as a 'deadly weapon', regardless of whatever the race of the fugitive.

As to be expected, after the 2022 ruling that it was a legal shooting, the local black activists claimed that "Race is absolutely a part of it." ... presumably under the assumption that if Rayshard Brooks had been white, and firing at police officers while fleeing after resisting arrest, they wouldn't have fired back? An assumption about policing policy in gun ridden America, that just doesn't stand up to the reality of the situation faced daily by the police officers.

It can't be ignored by either the authorities or activists that Brooks had a fairly long criminal record, with a number of police contact incidents over the years. Documents show he was convicted domestic-related charges (battery violence against a family member) in Clayton County under a negotiated plea, and sentenced to serve one year in jail with the remainder of the sentence to be served on probation in August of 2014.

He had reportedly been pulled up twice for violating his probation rules (leaving the state on one occasion), and he also had criminal sentences for vehicle theft among other past crimes. Contrary to rumours he was not on parole from prison at the time of his death, but was still under probation rules in 2020, after it had been extended due to those prior violations.

The Atlanta Wendy's Aflame After Protests

In the wake of the original shooting, local black groups rioted, aka a peaceful black protest, the Wendy's restaurant was burned down, and the site was briefly taken over by 'peaceful protesters'. A month later with continuing disturbances (aka violence) in the guise of protest marches, eight-year-old girl, Secoriea Turner, was fatally shot by someone while being driven near a barricade erected by local black gang members.

The rift between how different races see law and order and enforcement across the West, is growing greater by the decades, or so it seems .... they are barely compatible even now.