Currents News Staff
“Mr. Brooks keep breathing. Keep breathing for me.”
That’s what fired Atlanta police officer, Garret Rolfe, was begging the man he just shot in the back to do – keep breathing. The newly released bodycam footage shows Rolfe giving CPR to Rayshard Brooks.
When the officers tried to arrest Brooks, who was drunk and found sleeping in his car in a Wendy’s drive through, Brooks fought back. He grabbed an officer’s taser and pointed it at Rolfe who fired his gun.
“At the time that the shot was fired, the utterance made by Officer Rolfe was “I got him,” said Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard.
The District Attorney charged the six-year veteran of the force with felony murder. And the DA released pictures he says shows Rolfe about to kick Brooks as he lay on the ground while his fellow officer, Devin Brosnan was standing on Brooks’ shoulders.
Brooks’ widow reacted, saying, “I felt everything that he felt just by hearing what he went through, and it hurt. It hurt really bad.”
Rolfe’s attorneys have responded to the charges in a statement saying:
“Officer Rolfe’s actions were justified. When Mr. Brooks turned and pointed an object at Officer Rolfe, any officer would have reasonably believed that he intended to disarm, disable or seriously injure him.”
Officer Brosnan was charged with aggravated assault. His lawyer says he will cooperate in the investigation but added, “In my view, he doesn’t need a deal. He shouldn’t have been charged with a crime in the first place.”
And just hours after the charges were announced, a number of officers in the Atlanta police department called out sick. The mayor said the city would still be protected.