How Rayshard Brooks Was Fatally Shot by the Atlanta Police - The New York Times
Category: News & Politics
Via: john-russell • 4 years ago • 87 commentsBy: Malachy Browne and Christina Kelso
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
One officer has been fired and another placed on administrative duty. A Times video analysis shows the sequence of events leading to the fatal shooting.
Police officers in Atlanta performed a sobriety test on Rayshard Brooks late Friday. Mr. Brooks was fatally shot while fleeing the scene after a tussle with the officers.Credit...Kiara Owens, via Facebook
By Malachy Browne and Christina Kelso
- June 14, 2020Updated 10:09 a.m. ET
The Atlanta Police Department said early Sunday that an officer had been fired over the fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks, 27, at a Wendy's restaurant. The officer, Garrett Rolfe, who had worked with the department since 2013, fired his handgun three times while he was chasing Mr. Brooks, who the authorities said had seized a Taser from an officer and fired it as he ran. Another officer on the scene, Devin Brosnan, who has been with the department for less than two years, was placed on administrative duty.
The Times analyzed eyewitness videos and security camera footage of the events to determine what happened in the minutes preceding Mr. Brooks's death. We synchronized the footage to determine precisely when Officer Rolfe fired his gun, and we reviewed other details of the shooting released by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Here's a detailed breakdown of how events unfolded:
At 10:33 p.m. Friday , police officers were called to Wendy's restaurant at 125 University Ave. in South Atlanta. Mr. Brooks had fallen asleep in his vehicle, which was parked in the drive-through, causing other customers to drive around him, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.
The chronology below uses the time-stamp displayed on security camera footage recorded at Wendy's, which was released by the bureau. We have been unable to confirm whether the security camera's time-stamp is correct.
10:54 p.m. Officer Brosnan is already at the scene when Officer Rolfe pulls up in an S.U.V. Officer Rolfe exits the driver's side of the vehicle and joins Officer Brosnan.
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Officer Brosnan and Officer Rolfe are at the scene for at least 25 minutes before the shooting happens. They perform a sobriety test on Mr. Brooks, as we can see in this video filmed by a witness, who was in line at the drive-through.
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11:22 p.m. According to the G.B.I., Mr. Brooks failed the sobriety test, and the officers attempted to take him into custody. Less than a minute later, Mr. Brooks was shot.
Video filmed by another witness shows Mr. Brooks grappling with the officers on the ground. He seizes a Taser from Officer Brosnan, stands up and punches Officer Rolfe. Officer Rolfe fires his Taser gun three times. The darts hit Mr. Brooks, and Officer Rolfe continues trying to stun him.
Mr. Brooks runs away, holding Officer Brosnan's Taser gun. Officer Rolfe gives chase, and continues to try to stun Mr. Brooks.
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The security camera footage filmed at Wendy's shows Officer Rolfe chasing Mr. Brooks. In seconds, Officer Rolfe passes his Taser from his right hand to his left hand, and reaches for his handgun.
While being chased, and in full stride, Mr. Brooks looks behind him, points the Taser he is holding in Officer Rolfe's direction and fires it. The flash of the Taser suggests that Mr. Brooks did not fire it with any real accuracy.
Officer Rolfe discards the Taser he is carrying, draws his handgun and fires it three times at Mr. Brooks as he is running away. Mr. Brooks falls to the ground. Warning: this footage is disturbing.
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CreditCredit...Georgia Bureau of Investigations
11:23 p.m. For the next minute, Officer Rolfe and Officer Brosnan stand over Mr. Brooks, who is injured but moving on the ground, and occasionally reach down to him. Officer Brosnan appears to use his radio. Neither officer appears to provide medical assistance to Mr. Brooks. Another police car arrives at the scene.
11:24 p.m. Another video shows Officer Rolfe running back to his S.U.V. and calling for help over his radio. Bystanders denounce the shooting to a third police officer who is at the scene.
11:25 p.m Officer Rolfe and Officer Brosnan begin to provide medical treatment. Officer Rolfe appears to unroll a bandage and place it on Mr. Brooks's torso.
11:30 p.m. An ambulance arrives. Eight minutes later, Mr. Brooks is taken to a hospital, where he dies after surgery.
Muyi Xiao contributed research.
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I have been listening to this case discussed for about a half an hour.
Georgia law does not consider a taser to be a deadly weapon, so what justifies shooting to kill someone running away with a taser in their hand? Shooting should not have been necessary, but even if the cop thought he had to stop this drunk man at all costs, why didnt he shoot him in the leg?
Brooks was asleep, drunk, in the drive through line at a Wendy's in Atlanta. The Wendy's employees called 911, the cops came, got Brooks out of his car and gave him a sobriety test. Brooks failed and so the cops arrested him. Brooks resisted arrest, got hold of one of the cops taser, and ran away. As he was running away he was shot in the back by one of the cops.
One of the questions being asked is why did Wendy's not call a tow truck and have the man, asleep, towed out of the drive through lane?
I don't know about there, but here by law, a tow truck can't hook a car if it is occupied.
It’s Wendy’s fault now?
its their responsibility to handle drunk drivers? Who needs police when the cashier at Wendy’s can handle felonies, and serve fries too!
at want point do you think the person who stole a taser from police and then fired it at them could have acted a little differently?
Brooks could have acted differently. Still, people resisting arrest and then running away should not be shot in the back.
Correct...
Tasers are not considered deadly weapons in Georgia.
Shooting the Taser over the officers head, or in his general direction
eliminated the ability of the Taser to seriously injure the officers, but would have added another charge against him
including DUI, PI, resisting, assualting and fleeing police.
That's not your call.
None of that warrants shooting him twice in the back.
Autopsy shows 2 in the back.
Video shows they "policed the three brass cartridges before" checking
the victims medical condition.
They rolled him over with a foot.
They checked for a pulse almost two minutes after he was shot.
They did not care if he died or not.
Re-read the emphasized part. THIS is why it went down the way it did. Had Brooks cooperated this wouldn't have escalated to the level it had.
Because it's illegal to to a vehicle with an occupant. The Wendy's employees did the right thing. People really need to do some research before asking stupid questions like that.
First, not their damn job; and why the hell should they pay for it?
Second, any damage done to the man's car by the tow and he would have sued both Wendy's and towing company.
Third, where the hell do they tow him to? A spot in their parking lot where he will hopefully sleep it off? If he wakes up and decides to drive somewhere and injures/kills anyone- guess who the plaintiffs will come asking for.
Fourth other posters are correct- it is illegal to tow a vehicle with a passenger in it.
Wendy's did the right thing calling the police to get someone driving under the influence off the streets. Not their fault the drunk turning out to be a raging imbecile that opted for death by cop.
Of course it was Wendy's fault so a bunch of asshats burned it down.
One would think that a police officer undergoes training and has the physical ability to outrun a drunken man.
The guy had an adrenaline rush fueled by the fight or flight reflex. Suddenly he became Jesse Owens.
Well, I'm sorry to have to say this, but he's at least partly to blame for his own death. Once he was being handcuffed (as the videos indicated) he was better off complying with his arrest than trying to run away.
True, but you never know what or won't freak you out as did the cuffs did with this guy.
If he only hadn't pointed and pulled the trigger on that taser "HE STOLE" !
Things woulda just been fine.
1 Night in the "Hold"..... Max.