Remember the 2020 Atlanta police incident involving a black man falling asleep in a Wendy’s drive thru? It ended with the suspect fighting police and subsequently losing his life after stealing an officer’s taser and pointing it at him as he ran away.
Not long after the incident, the hack Atlanta district attorney announced he was charging one of the officers of murder and the other with aggravated assault. It was preposterous at the time because everyone knew that the officers were simply defending themselves.
Well I say everyone. That Wendy’s location was burned to the ground by BLM protesters who chalked it up to another George Floyd incident.
Fast forward to today, two long years later. A special prosecutor has just announced that he is NOT charging the officers with any crimes because they were acting in self defense.
Here’s the report via NBC News:
A special prosecutor said Tuesday he will not pursue criminal charges against two Atlanta police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks, a Black man whose death weeks after the killing of George Floyd in 2020 spurred racial justice demonstrations.
The decision delivered by Pete Skandalakis, the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, is in contrast with what former Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard had found in the wake of Brooks’ death, leading to charges against officers Garrett Rolfe and Devin Brosnan. Howard had been voted out of office, and his predecessor, citing conflicts of interest, had the case transferred to the office of the Georgia Attorney General in early 2021.
Skandalakis said the officers “committed no crimes,” and that the use of deadly force was “reasonable.”
The death of Brooks, 27, during a police encounter on June 12, 2020, renewed scrutiny on the Atlanta Police Department. Then-Police Chief Erika Shields resigned less than 24 hours after the shooting.
Brooks’ shooting in a Wendy’s parking lot was captured on security and bodycam video. Police responded to a report that a man had fallen asleep in his car in the drive-thru. Two officers encountered Brooks, and a struggle ensued after they administered a field sobriety test and tried to take Brooks into custody.
The video showed Brooks holding a stun gun as he ran away. He appeared to turn around and point the weapon before an officer, identified as Rolfe, fired at him, hitting him in the back, according to investigators. Rolfe, a six-year veteran of the department, was initially fired, while the second officer, Brosnan, a veteran of nearly two years, was placed on administrative leave.
Fulton County prosecutors had taken the rare step of announcing charges in a police shooting. Rolfe initially faced 11 charges, including for felony murder, and Brosnan faced three charges, including for aggravated assault.
First let me ay that Howard being voted out of office was the best thing to happen in this case. He was clearly a Soros-funded hack and deserved to lose his job for his preposterous conclusions.
Secondly, I’ll add that while I hate that it took this long for a special prosecutor to finally drop the case, I am very glad it happened because it was the right thing to do.
Lastly, I hope these officers can get back to the business of protecting the people of Atlanta, should they want to do so. I know they’ve been through an ordeal because of this hack Soros-funded DA. While the case has finally reached the proper conclusion, I’ve not doubt this has taken a toll on these two officers.