Cop came close to letting the Rayshard Brooks incident go
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Do I want to deal with this dude right now?’ Police officer first to arrive at the Atlanta Wendy’s where intoxicated Rayshard Brooks was found came close to letting the incident slide, bodycam footage shows
- On June 12, Rayshard Brooks was shot by cop Garret Rolfe twice in the back
- Brooks had grabbed one of the cop’s Taser guns and was running from Rolfe, pointing it at him, when he was shot
- The cops had been called to a Wendy’s drive-thru where he was asleep at the wheel, parked in the drive-thru lane
- Officer Derek Brosnan was first at the scene
- Bodycam footage reviewed by DailyMail.com reveals Brosnan considered letting the incident go before reluctantly getting out of his patrol car
- Brooks admitted he’d been drinking and as they tried to put him in handcuffs; he struggled and tried to run away from them
The first officer to respond the 911 call that resulted in the death of Rayshard Brooks considered just letting the incident go but decided to check one more time on the man whom he found drunk and asleep at the wheel, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Brooks was shot dead on Friday June 12 after police were called to the Wendy’s on University Avenue, Atlanta.
Rayshard Brooks was shot dead on Friday June 12 after police were called to the Wendy’s on University Avenue, Atlant.
An autopsy showed he sustained two gunshot wounds toz his back as a stop that had started peaceably escalated into a violent altercation during which Brooks punched one of the officers, stole his taser and started to run.0
His death has been ruled a homicide. Garrett Rolfe, 27, the officer who fired the fatal shots has been fired while Officer Devin Brosnan, 26, the first to arrive on the scene, has been placed on administrative duty while the incident is investigated by Georgia Bureau of Investigations.
Now, bodycam footage reviewed by DailyMail.com, has revealed just how close Brosnan came to letting the incident slide as he can be heard asking himself, ‘Do I want to deal with this dude right now?’ before reluctantly getting out of his patrol car.
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Officer Garrett Rolfe (left), who pulled the trigger, was fired but has not been charged. Prosecutors say he may be charged as soon as Wednesday. Devin Brosnan (right) has been placed on administrative leave. Brosnan watched as Brooks overshot the parking space into which he pulled. The officer got back into his patrol car and asked himself, ‘Do I want to deal with this dude right now?’
Brosnan had just witnessed Brooks ploughing over the curb of the parking space into which he asked him to pull. He had already had to wake him twice having found Brooks asleep at the wheel of his car in the drive-thru lane.
Bodycam footage of the first minutes of the call-out showed Brosnan trying to wake Brooks before asking him to pull into a parking space to allow traffic to flow.
Brosnan returned to his car and waited only for Brooks to fall asleep once more. He later told Officer Rolfe that he could immediately smell the alcohol on Brooks’s breath.
Brosnan watched as Brooks then overshot the parking space into which he pulled. The officer got back into his patrol car and asked himself, ‘Do I want to deal with this dude right now?’
After one minute he walked over to Brook’s car, looked in the window and saw that he was asleep once more.
The officer got back into his patrol car and hesitated for a full two minutes before sighing and deciding that he had to check on Brooks once more.
He returned to Brooks and asked, ‘Hey man, are you good? Because you were passed out before. I just want to check you’re okay. Why did you fall asleep?’
Brooks responded semi-coherently, ‘I was doing about fifty.’
Which prompted Brosnan to ask, ‘How much have you had to drink tonight?’
Across the rest of the stop – which lasted approximately twenty minutes and during which Officer Rolfe arrived at around 10.56 – Brooks made a variety of conflicting statement regarding his alcohol consumption.
Asked repeatedly he said by turns that he had had one margharita, one and a half margheritas, no margheritas, a daiquiri and no daiquiri.
He was unable to state where he was, initially believing himself to be in Forestpark, Clayton County some nine miles away and claimed to have not been driving at all despite the fact that he had been found alone in the car, behind the wheel.
Rayshard Brooks’ widow Tomika Miller said on Monday that it would take a ‘long time’ for their family to heal. She spoke while holding one of his three daughters
Though muddled he remained polite throughout questioning and compliant during both a field sobriety test and preliminary breathalyzer.
But when Rolfe began to cuff him having stated, ‘I think you’ve had too much to drink,’ the footage showed Brooks suddenly struggle and scuffle ensued during which an officer can be heard shouting, ‘Hands off the f***ing taser. He’s got the taser!’
Surveillance footage taken from the Wendy’s drive-thru showed Brooks attempting to run with Rolfe in pursuit. Brooks appeared to turn and shoot the taser at which point Rolfe can be seen dropping his own, unholstering his gun and firing.
The death has caused outrage, coming as it does in the wake of 46-year-old father of five, George Floyd’s killing which has seen protests and calls to defund the police have swept the nation.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard has said that having reviewed the evidence so far it would be hard for Rolfe to argue self-defense in his use of lethal force.
‘There’s one good thing about video,’ said Howard, referring to surveillance camera footage obtained by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI).
‘Because in the video we actually get a chance to hear the officer’s first statement after the shooting took place.
‘And what the officer said is not that his life was saved.
As he’s running away from Rolfe, Brooks (right) is seen turning around and pointing a Taser gun at the cop. That is what prompted Rolfe to shoot him twice in the back
‘What his statement was, he said: “I got him”.’
Speaking to CNN on Sunday, Howard said ‘(Brooks) did not seem to present any kind of threat to anyone, and so the fact that it would escalate to his death just seems unreasonable.
‘If that shot was fired for some reason other than to save that officer’s life or prevent injury to him or others, then that shooting is not justified under the law.’
Howard said there were three charges which were ‘relevant’ in the case and could be filed.
‘One would be the murder charge in the state of Georgia,’ he said.
‘That charge is a charge that is directly related to an intent to kill.
‘The second charge is felony murder. And that is a charge that involves a death that comes as a result of the commission of an underlying felony, and in this case, that underlying felony would be aggravated assault.’
He said his office was unlikely to pursue the third charge, aggravated assault.
‘I believe in this instance, what we have to choose between — if there’s a choice to be made — is between murder and felony murder.’
Rolfe had been recently trained in de-escalation tactics, according to his department record.
In addition to the de-escalation training, he took coursework in April in cultural awareness. This past January, he passed a course entitled ‘Use of Deadly Force.’
Rolfe has also had multiple courses in tactical team operations and firearms training.
Brosnan was employed by Atlanta Police Department in 2018. Before that he served as a Campus Police Officer at Cape Cod Community College, Massachusetts.
Brooks was a married father of four children – three girls of his own, aged eight, two and one, and a 13-year-old stepson.
His attorney, L. Chris Stewart, said that on Friday, shortly before his death, Brooks was celebrating his eldest daughter’s eighth birthday with her at an arcade
Brooks was running from the cop when he turned, pointed the Taser gun, and was shot dead
Rolfe was reportedly heard shouting ‘I got him!’ after shooting Brooks dead
Brooks with Miller and three of his four daughters. She said she now feels like a ‘statistic’ having been rendered a single black mother by the cops’ killing her husband
Protesters set fire to the Wendy’s on Saturday after footage of Brooks’ death emerged
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