Witness to Rayshard Brooks’ death speaks out

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has mandated an overhaul of the city's police department policies regarding use of force.

President Donald Trump has pushed for law enforcement agencies to adopt higher standards on the use of deadly force.

Protests against police brutality and racial inequality across the country are now on their third week and show no signs of ending.

Despite all that pressure, odds are the officer who shot and killed 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks during a pursuit outside a Wendy's restaurant in Atlanta last week won't spend a day inside a prison.

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said Wednesday that former officer Garrett Rolfe — who shot a fleeing, Taser-wielding Brooks in the back — would be charged with felony murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, in addition to nine other charges. Fellow officer Devin Brosnan faced lesser charges.

The manner of Brooks' death has been ruled a homicide, but police officers are generally granted a fairly wide berth in their decisions to use force, especially in tense situations.
» Subscribe to USA TODAY:
» Watch more on this and other topics from USA TODAY:
» USA TODAY delivers current local and national news, sports, entertainment, finance, technology, and more through award-winning journalism, photos, videos and VR.

59 comments

  1. This is planned, folks. They have been waiting for a case they couldn’t successfully prosecute. They expect the officer to walk. The coming unrest is their end game.

  2. Rayshard Brook’s arrest looked exactly like my arrest for DUI – until he started fighting with the cops and taking one of their tasers and running away. I’m still here. He isn’t. Does it matter what color I am?

    1. @Jared Mesa He will get convicted of manslaughter. The weapon wasn’t deadly. The officers mishandled the situation. He was asleep drunk in his car. He just wanted to walk to his sisters house. What they did afterwards is what will get them convicted. Taking too long to check on vitals and administer first aid. Kicking dead guy on the ground. They should have just let him run away. He didn’t murder anyone. Cops have to re-think their process of doing their jobs. Serve and protect not get angry and violent all the time when really what is the big fricking deal. Just some drunk guy in a car. Take his car keys. There are a dozen better ways to handle the situation.

    2. @Godmirra rayshard can rot in hell. The cop won’t be convicted because if he is. Thousands of cases will be reopened and lots of these cases will throw leftist liberals in prison. This cop won’t be convicted because they have powerful lawyers in the union ego are bought ahd payed for by the the leftists.

    3. @Godmirra the cop will be given defamation severance packages worth several million. The cops have powerful lawyers that the liberals have payed for 👍😂😂😂. It’s like fighting yourself. This case is meant to anger people. Because there’s no way that this cop will do time 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💢

    4. He ran and then turned around a fired the taser towards the officers face thats the difference

    1. Of course. It’s another career criminal with the inability to follow basic directions. His actions lead to his death. Case closed.

    2. Legally a cop is allowed to use deadly force only if he perceives his life to be in imminent danger.
      As we’ve all seen, Brooks was too far away when he haphazardly fired the taser at the cop [plus he was running the opposite direction he was shooting]. The cop didn’t fire his live rounds until Brooks had turned back around. Hence the bullets hitting him in the back.
      I don’t see anything to suggest conscious racial bias played a role, but inevitably, unconscious racial bias plays a role in any situation like this. Brooks acted a fool and the cop made a huge mistake. It’s a tragedy, but not a brutal murder in the sense of George Floyd’s.
      Whatever aspect of defunding the police happens, I hope the money allocated to training police to make better split-second decisions in situations like these is increased. ☮️ 💟 ☯️

    1. Charles/marilyn Billington i have never seen anyone or any color get out of a DUI. Maybe you saw something on the hallmark network like that but in real life its not happening.

    2. Toilet Paper Bandit I was once given a breathalyzer after being pulled over for a bum tail light. I blew _just_ over the limit. There were 2 officers and one of them agreed to drive me home about a mile away (in MI’s 2nd largest city).

    1. hey friend, contraction of “they are” = “they’re”. “Their” is for when a group possesses something, like “Wu-Tang hung their gold records on the wall of their studio.”

    2. I pray you never have a child, spouse, friend or anyone who is close to you, that is not perfect (i.e. your friends or family members who get drunk and drive—your friends or family members who are addicted to illegal or prescription drugs—your friends or family members who suffer from mental illness—your friends or family members who have committed crimes and have gotten away with them— your friends or family members who have been convicted of crimes and served their time— your friends or family members who commit adulterous acts, lie, or need anger management) to be gunned down in a parking lot, in their bed, in a public park, on their sofa, while there’re jogging, or just sitting in their car. I pray you NEVER have to experience this kind of pain!

      I respect your comment because I understand that you DON’T understand. I wish we all DIDN’T understand because that would mean NO ONE is facing injustices that REQUIRES a march to bring awareness that EVERY LIFE MATTERS! I know you have NO clue of the pain that is associated with having to tell the world that BLACK LIVES MATTER!

      I’m glad that you don’t have to march and be enraged about the day after day killings of your friends or family members. I don’t wish this HATE on anyone!

      But, if you were experiencing this level of trauma, I as a Black woman, would hope that there is enough in me — in my heart — to not condemn you, your friends, and family members. I pray that I would NEVER imply that because you guys are not perfect, you deserved to be MURDERED…even if I don’t see you guys as a “hero”.

      Peace and Love!

    3. Donna Austin blah blah blah. Your the one that thinks emotionally. And all emotional thinkers lack logic.

    4. Donna Austin the prosecutor should never give his opinion of innocence or guilt before a trial. Neither should they parade the witnesses in the case. You will never find a impartial or unbiased jury that way.
      It’s all just to try the case by mob rule. That’s not how the justice system is to be.
      It’s all to increase then tension in the public that already exist. Setting themselves up to lose to create more rioting and looting.
      If your in one of those cities good luck to you.

  3. How can this man make this statement with a straight face…and why in the hell does a witness need an attorney like this?

    1. James , if you listen to the 1st witness closely, he sounds like he has been coached to say that he has been permanently traumatized by the shooting, even if he did not see it. So I guess that attorney will be seeking damages for these two rappers as well as the family. Why not include all who were in the parking lot as well ? Atlanta has deep pockets and good insurance.

    1. it has nothing to do with race it has all to do right from wrong ,we need criminal control not cop control

    1. I pray you never have a child, spouse, friend or anyone who is close to you, that is not perfect (i.e. your friends or family members who get drunk and drive—your friends or family members who are addicted to illegal or prescription drugs—your friends or family members who suffer from mental illness—your friends or family members who have committed crimes and have gotten away with them— your friends or family members who have been convicted of crimes and served their time— your friends or family members who commit adulterous acts, lie, or need anger management) to be gunned down in a parking lot, in their bed, in a public park, on their sofa, while there’re jogging, or just sitting in their car. I pray you NEVER have to experience this kind of pain!

      I respect your comment because I understand that you DON’T understand. I wish we all DIDN’T understand because that would mean NO ONE is facing injustices that REQUIRES a march to bring awareness that EVERY LIFE MATTERS! I know you have NO clue of the pain that is associated with having to tell the world that BLACK LIVES MATTER!

      I’m glad that you don’t have to march and be enraged about the day after day killings of your friends or family members. I don’t wish this HATE on anyone!

      But, if you were experiencing this level of trauma, I as a Black woman, would hope that there is enough in me — in my heart — to not condemn you, your friends, and family members. I pray that I would NEVER imply that because you guys are not perfect, you deserved to be MURDERED…even if I don’t see you guys as a “hero”.

      Peace and Love!

    2. @Donna Austin yeah… child molesters aren’t perfect and don’t deserve to be murdered either.

    1. Yeah I’m pretty sure shooting a stolen taser at a cop, after physically resisting arrest is two violent crimes.

  4. Punched cops in face, took cops weapon (taser), shot taser at cop, LEGIT SHOOTING! DO WE NOW PASS OUT GAS CARDS AND MAKE IT EASY FOR RIOTERS TO BUY GAS? THIS CRAP IS ALL PLANNED!

  5. So this guy admits that he didn’t see anything but yet he’s a witness? Maybe I’m wrong but I thought that a witness was a person that actually witnessed what happened.

    1. The DA got all the evidence from the videos submitted. The lawyer said in the courtroom, the 2 witnesses are making claims due to the stray bullets hitting their vehicles

    1. @Tiffany Newton yea drunk driving, he could have killed a bunch of people because he want to be a selfish irresponsible wannabe thug, and his stupidity got him justifiably shot.

  6. This DA charged him without the GBI knowing and now the DA is being investigated! Let that sink in for a moment

  7. I am a minority. This is a tipping point for me. When MLKjr led his movement he included all minorities. I see a lot about BLM being only about blacks. That is not only reverse racism but, ungracious as many minorities helped that movement and to forget about them now? The problems in this country stem from economic inequality, it is the powers that be that are painting this racism picture to ignore the economic aspect. This is not a situation of gross excessive force. If BLM uses this as a rally point they have lost my support. If they do not start including other minorities in their demands they have lost my support. All for one and one for all people. My mouth is my greatest weapon, especially in front of large crowds. Whether that ability is aimed against their enemies or their movement itself is dependant on its actions moving forward.

    1. I pray you never have a child, spouse, friend or anyone who is close to you, that is not perfect (i.e. your friends or family members who get drunk and drive—your friends or family members who are addicted to illegal or prescription drugs—your friends or family members who suffer from mental illness—your friends or family members who have committed crimes and have gotten away with them— your friends or family members who have been convicted of crimes and served their time— your friends or family members who commit adulterous acts, lie, or need anger management) to be gunned down in a parking lot, in their bed, in a public park, on their sofa, while there’re jogging, or just sitting in their car. I pray you NEVER have to experience this kind of pain!

      I respect your comment because I understand that you DON’T understand. I wish we all DIDN’T understand because that would mean NO ONE is facing injustices that REQUIRES a march to bring awareness that EVERY LIFE MATTERS! I know you have NO clue of the pain that is associated with having to tell the world that BLACK LIVES MATTER!

      I’m glad that you don’t have to march and be enraged about the day after day killings of your friends or family members. I don’t wish this HATE on anyone!

      But, if you were experiencing this level of trauma, I as a Black woman, would hope that there is enough in me — in my heart — to not condemn you, your friends, and family members. I pray that I would NEVER imply that because you guys are not perfect, you deserved to be MURDERED…even if I don’t see you guys as a “hero”.

      Peace and Love!

    2. @Donna Austin I truly respect your emotion and am not saying it is not justified. I have been homeless for 15 years. I have seen what i have seen. Economic equality is the only real way out, and that needs to include everyone. In the synagogue i grew up in i knew people with their barcode still tattooed on their arm. For once in a long long time in history antisemitism is not a driving force in racism, and no I may not have it as bad as some, but I have earned my stripes. I have seen what i have seen. When mlk jr marched in Montgomery the majority of the ‘white’ people there were actually jewish. My people did not forget the suffering of others and stood by those who fought for what is right. Do you have the strength of character to do the same? That is my question, as it pertains to my original statement, that i stand by. Not once have i said anything to diminish what is going on, only to question its direction, as racism is racism is racism, except when its ‘class’ism. What 15 years of living under bridges, panhandling (spanging), working, getting a college degree (while homeless), interacting with social services, and still being homeless, has shown me is not about color. The goons on the street eat it up because it allows them to justify their evil deeds, but the people who write their paychecks could care less. Poverty driven discrimination, agreeably affecting blacks more, is what ultimately needs to be addressed for the benefit of EVERYONE. Be better than revenge, is all I’m saying, because anything else plays right into the hands of those who would keep you oppressed, and against me, a sad reality i am desperately trying to avoid by getting my opinion out there to educate and direct, not to be combative. It is replies like yours that push me away. I don’t want to be.

    3. i hear you, but i changed my view after watching the NYPD 12 documentary: Crime + punishment. It’s about 12 good officers that got sick and tired of being ordered to work a certain way at their department. since the film released, 100’s if not 1,000’s of officers nationwide have reached out for help in dealing with work on the streets. if you want, you can search for interviews on YouTube or i saved a bunch of them in a playlist. If you want to watch the film it’s available for free on Hulu, or Roku channel. you can also find more info from Dr Michael Woods Jr, former Baltimore police officer on YouTube, also available in playlist

    4. I have started hearing the term BIPOC for blacks, indigenous, and people of color. I agree that race is being used as a distraction from class issues. But…there’s something wrong with you if you feel the need to kick a dying man.

  8. So are they already doing the trial? Why in the hell are we hearing the “witness” testimony. So we convict people then hold court with press conferences, then just a guilty. Without a fair and just trial. Wow talk about the old west law.

  9. more race baiting division from the chase hating television… the real GANGSTERS are the BANKSTERS

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.