Office Rolfe charged with felony Murder and 10 other counts

Could face death penalty! :astonished:

They threw everything at him they could possibly put on paper and think of. Made Brooks sound like an angel for the 45 minutes with no mention that Brooks initiated the fight, punched one of the officers in the face, resisted arrest, grabbed the taser and fired it the officer, and the officer jumped out of the way. But the DA described the officer should have known that the taser had been fired twice and really didn’t present a threat. Really? The officer jumped to the left when the taser was fired at him. That doesn’t look like an officer who thought the taser didn’t represent a threat to him.

The argument presented by the DA sounded so one sided and not balanced that I really do not believe this will go over well with the ATL police department. Just saying from an unbiased, long distance observer on how I interpreted the DA’s argument and the case he presented to the public. Even if the officer is truly guilty of killing him, I really wish the DA would not have presented the case this way. It just came across as very unbalanced and railroad like.

Interesting that the other officer will testify against the shooting officer and he will be charged with 3 offenses himself including stepping on the victim’s shoulder and not being quick enough to call for medical aide letting like 2.5 minutes go by. I cannot remember what the 3rd charge was against the 2nd officer.

But not good that the shooting officer kicked the victim after shooting him. That looks real bad. Using the words “I got him” after shooting him will be used against the officer.

Now on the other front, if they are not allowed to fire a taser at a running away victim (interesting it appears it is not written regarding firing a gun at a running away suspect), then it appears to be excessive and the shooting officer should get legally what he deserves.

But overall, it appears like an overcharging situation unlink the MN situation which came across as an undercharging situation at least initially. I am pretty sure the national debate by the “experts” will be hot after the DA’s presentation.

I’ll be interested to see how others interepretted the DA’s presentation of the case. I’m sure others will have different opions. :grinning:

Update - I didn’t realize if confirmed by Grand Jury, officer can face the death penalty. Pretty extreme. I have heard 3 lawyer pundits and 1 judge and all agreed, and some showing anger that this is extreme overcharging.

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I really can’t believe all of this happened as a result of someone being asleep in line at Wendy’s. It appears to my untrained self that the whole thing was blown out of proportion from the first encounter. One would think the officers could have just told the guy to move on and be done with it. But, then again, I don’t know everything that happened from the first minute to the last.

Regardless, I can’t think of anything involved with the situation that would warrant shooting at someone. I am usually very much in the corner of the police, but this instance is another case where a man was killed for no justifiable reason – IMHO.

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Not surprised, reports from ATL has been coming in all night that police officers in ATL are not showing up to work. Somewhat of a blue flu starting. Totally expected this after that presentation and excessiive charing that the ATL DA did. We really need the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to complete their investigation of the occurrence for it sure appears that the DA rust to judgement and significantly overcharged will just lead to more problems if he didn overcharge with the public reaction when the charges do not pan out.

Also, the officer’s attorney went on TV tonight and claims that his client never kicked the victim and he showed video of his client administrating CPR and encouraging Brooks to keep breathing and calling him “Mr. Brooks”. So, somebody is lying about the kicking which inflamed the locals when they heard it. His attorney reminded that the DA never showed a clip of the victim being kicked only a still picture and that others have stated that they haven’t seen any evidence of the officer kicking Brooks. If the DA is lying about the kicking he needs to be terminated for introducing that act. We’ll see iif it ever occurred eventually. The DA is facing a runoff election soon.

Two weeks ago this same DA charged cops with using a taser as a deadly weapon. Today, he claimed that the taser Brooks clearly fired at the officer was not a deadly weapon. It was communicated tonight that under GA law, a taser is considered a potential deadly weapon. So I guess we’ll eventually hear the truth on that front.

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I’m not getting into the shooting itself, but it wasn’t just because he was asleep in line at Wendy’s. It was because he was suspected of driving under the influence, which is dangerous, especially to the point you are falling asleep. They can’t tell him just to move on. I guess they could have accepted his offer to walk home but they enforce that law because it is dangerous.

If you think the cops didn’t handle the situation properly that’s reasonable, but it’s not reasonable to think they could have just told him to wake up and be on his way, at least not with the way policing is currently done in this country.

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I don’t think it is the case with Rayshard, but the whole 40+ mins was just weird and I would have thought he had mental health issues if I saw it before more info came out. Police should be trained how to deal with a situation like that. He was polite and cooperative with everything, but was very confused the whole time. Not knowing where he was or how he got into the drive thru. He wasn’t anywhere near black out drunk which could cause those issues. He for the most part passed the sobriety tests and I think he blew a .108 which is just above the legal limit. It wasn’t until the cop grabbed at him to handcuff him that he freaked out. Like I said, it doesn’t seem to be his case but that can happen with a lot of people with mental health issues. They could have explained first he was getting arrested and taken in before grabbing his arms. He probably would have got in the cop car no problem if they just asked. So I think the cops messed up way before shooting him, which was clearly not something that needed to be done and I cant believe some are arguing shooting was the right choice.

My guess is the officer thought Rayshard was screwing with him the whole time and was pissed off after that long time interacting with him. He finally said screw it after doing the breathalyzer and aggressively went to cuff him. Then he completely freaked out after Rayshard tried to run and they looked like fools losing a taser then chasing after him. I don’t know the proper way they are supposed to handle all this, but Rayshard did offer to call his girlfriend a few times. Maybe they should have talked to her and got more info on what he drank or took. There was definitely zero compassion during the whole thing.

The same DA, of Fulton Co, fired two police officers last week for firing a taser at protesters sitting in their car. He said tasers, “could constitute use of deadly force.” So now all of a sudden when tasers are being fired at police officers they aren’t deadly force? And I’m saying this as the biggest “snowflake” you’ll ever meet. It’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t for police officers these days. Smh

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I think this also has to do with our gun culture. In other countries, England for example the only time police show up with guns is in a situation where it is warranted. Drunk drivers don’t need guns to be stopped. Let the man run away you had all his info. We are just too ready to shoot here in America.

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With all the crime (burglaries, home invasion etc) and now street protest and vandalism I am relieved I live in a state that allows me to have a gun in my home.

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How bout a tank, rocket launchers and grenades?

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Crime has been drastically reduced over the past 25 years.

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Fitty are you saying you’ve become more conservative over the years…in the past I never envisioned such a statement…

The world is upside down. A tazer can be used as deadly force. The officer could have been tazed and then the suspect use his gun against him. I guess they would have said that he got what he deserved.
Police as a whole are good people who want to help others. They are the only barrier between anarchy and good. Could they use more training sure but I can tell you from what I know, they do many hours of required training. Officers are leaving the profession because they do not feel as though anyone has their back. I see that in what the DA did in Atlanta. In my opinion that was an opening statement not a reporting of the charges.

People need to do as I was taught as a child. Obey the officer and let the courts do their job. You will get your day in court.

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The problem is, that didn’t work for Philando Castile and George Floyd. They didn’t fight, but still ended up dead. Black men have a legitimate reason to fear the police. We’ve all heard stories for decades, now with cell phones we have visual evidence. And until recently even that evidence wasn’t enough to bring charges in most cases.

So there are problems on both ends of your statement for too many Americans: obey the police and you still end up dead, try to let the courts do their job and justice fails you.

It’s a wonder we haven’t had another Civil War with the way our society has treated so many of its citizens.

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Shooting people in the back, don’t try justify that.

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Well Coogdue, did we watch the same video? The policeman shot him after he tried to taze the officer and then turned and ran in a split second. The officer was tazed on the finger. If he had been closer the officer would have been on the ground defenseless This is not a shooting in the back.
George Floyd is a different story. I do believe that the officer committed murder. He is exactly where he is supposed to be IN Jail.

Timothy if you think that there are problems with my statement then I can say there are problems with yours. Please stop looking at this as a cop/race war. My husband and I have never seen color only character. You are lumping all police into one group. I am married to one and I know that he puts his life over the lives of others of all races every time he goes out. In addition, lets get all the videos not just the ones the media would like you to see. The body cameras protect the officers as well as the public.

The us against them mentality (Civil War) will not end well for our society. Love your brother on both sides!! I do.

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When your argument has a bunch of ifs you know it’s flimsy. The man was shot in the back with a used taser in hand. Shot in the back twice as he ran away. For as long as there has been history we have known their is no honor attacking a person in the back, backshooter is the term nobody wants. Just because it’s a hard job doesn’t mean it’s shoot first ask questions later. We saw all see the video, no justification for shooting a man in the back. None. Stop trying to justification a terrible outcome to a brawl and realize it’s unacceptable to shot a man in the back who is running away.

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The officer also said “I got him” after shooting him, failed to timely render aid, and kicked the guy while he was dying.

Those are not good facts for the officer.

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I will not reply because I am replying to friends so I am done. Just so you know a tazer is a deadly weapon in Georgia according to the same DA.

If you punch a cop, steal their weapon, and fire it at them, you’re committing suicide IMO. Self defense is not felony murder.

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