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It's perfectly obvious from the video that the fleeing felon fired the taser at the officer
It's perfectly obvious to anyone who can read that all the cops needed to do was allow the gap to open between themselves and Brooks and the Taser would have been as harmless as a wet towel.
But that is not what happened. He WAS a threat. He just fought two police officers and stole a taser and tased a cop as he was running away. Why was Rayshard so desperate that he would risk fighting and tasing cops instead of just cooperating, it was just a DUI. The cops must be thinking...wtf? Why is he so desperate? Did he just kill someone? Who the hell knows. Why was he blacked out at Wendy's. What the hell is really going on with this guy? How desperate is he?? What else is he capable of?
And what if he wasn't shot? What if he turned around again and tased the cop and the cop was incapacitated and he went over and took his gun and shot him or shot someone else?? So many things could have happened. Other innocent people could have been hurt or killed. Maybe the cop thought Rayshard possibly got hold of the other cop's gun before he took off running, maybe the cop thought he was being shot at with a gun. Maybe he thought Rayshard had both the taser and the other cop's gun. So many possibilities.... and in that split second, after what had just happened, Rayshard doesn't deserve any benefit of the doubt. NONE whatsoever. He brought this on himself. He sealed his own fate when he decided to fight two officers and tase them.
He didn't tase any cop. Quit making something up that didn't happen. He was not told he was under arrest, so his fleeing is not illegal. He may well have been guilty of other things, none of them that deserve a death sentence.
So many Americans place so little value on a human life. More people are shot and killed each week by police in the USA than in all of Europe in a year. Obviously something is wrong in the USA. Or maybe so little value is placed on human life.
The fact he has a long criminal record is exactly why he ran.
Normal people go to jail, get booked, make bail, and are out in 24 hours to get their day in court. Nothing he did was normal including sleeping, in the middle of the drive through.
Well duh, of course that's why he ran. But it didn't even have to get to that point and it only did because the cop escalated the situation. It's a damn shame that the police could not or would not use Brooks' willingness to comply, which characterized most of the encounter, to reach a non-violent conclusion to the matter and it demonstrates much of what's broken about policing in America. It's freakin' HORRIBLE.
Shooting in the back is relevant because you or I would be arrested for shooting a person in the back as they fled. I think most rational minds would agree that in that situation the taser was barely a threat. A slingshot would have been more dangerous. If Brooks had had a gun capable of killing those cops I would be arguing good shoot.
Well GA law disagrees with you. One is classified as a deadly weapon.
So if Brooks had a gun, the shooting in the back wouldn't matter according to you. Do you see the lack of consistency in your argument about where the rounds struck the felon?
It's perfectly obvious to anyone who can read that all the cops needed to do was allow the gap to open between themselves and Brooks and the Taser would have been as harmless as a wet towel.
There was no need for lethal force.
So allow a dangerous violent felon who is armed to have a bigger lead so that maybe he can steal a car?
Damn man, it seems like the only people you care about are criminals. I'm sad too that he'll never again have the chance to beat his wife and kids, but there's just no intelligent argument that his shooting wasn't justified.
There were a total of 10 witnesses, 3 from Tennessee and all were interviewed by DA. A total of 8 video tapes were reviewed. Brooks was never told he as under arrest (DA). Officers gave no medical attention, as they are required to for over 2 minutes, instead, Brooks was kicked, and one of the officers stood on Brook's shoulder. They did not follow policy. No threat existed that Brooks would have required that he was shot.
The utterance was by Rolfe was"I got him!" Tasers are not allowed to be shot at someone who is running away, under Atlanta police SOP, never mind a gun. The officer knew the taser was fired twice, and no more danger to anyone.
Brosnan admitted to standing on the body, and will be a cooperating witness for the State.
Rolfe's charges:
felony murder (underlying felony assault with a deadly weapon)
aggravated assault with a deadly weapon
aggravate assault shooting in direction of a civilian (Evans sitting in a car)
aggravate assault shooting in direction of a civilian (Daniel Tillmans?)
aggravate assault shooting in direction of a civilian (Michael Perkins)
criminal damage shooting into a vehicle
7 violations of oath of office, including, arresting with out telling Brooks he was being arrested, shooting a taser at a running suspect, excessive force shooting a firearm, failure to give timely medical aid and kicking Brooks
Brosnan charges:
standing on Brooks shoulder (he admitted to this)
2 violation of oath, standing on shoulder and failure to render medical aid
The DA said their demeanor after the shooting "did not reflect any fear or danger of Mr. Brooks, but reflected other kinds of emotions,". Brosnan has agreed to be a state's witness, the DA said. He further said this was the first time in that the DA is aware that a police office became a state witness during his time as DA. Other cases, police officers will not cooperate, and he is grateful for this one.
So, do you really think all of those charges that Rolfe will be cleared of?
Your first mistake was listening to the DA's news conference and believing a word he said, he was lying through his teeth and preformed a lynching. If not completely cleared, the charges will be greatly reduced.
The true facts are coming out, the DA is fighting for reelection and willing to destroy two good men's life in order to get reelected. He won't be reelected
They should. If someone fires a tazer at you, you should be able to shoot.
The police are a different matter though. They are authorized to pursue suspects and to use force. It's not really fair and reasonable to demand that an officer always hold back and risk injury or death in the course of their duty every time a suspect deploys a weapon against them.
If the person was firing a taser was running away, they would say why did you keep chasing him? Why not just open the gap.
They weren't at risk. All they needed to do was allow 15 gap or greater.
The other issue at hand when shooting at someone is the risk of collateral damage. That's why using a gun should be the very last choice. That's why it is in other first world countries.
If Brooks had been shooting an actual handgun I would be defending the cops. In this case the Taser was easily neutralized by simply dropping back a step or two.
He was not told he was under arrest, so his fleeing is not illegal. He may well have been guilty of other things, none of them that deserve a death sentence.
Your mental gymnastics are impressive and honestly a bit hilarious. I'm curious, in your crazy little world is it "illegal" to assault police officers and steal deadly weapons from them?
Well duh, of course that's why he ran. But it didn't even have to get to that point and it only did because the cop escalated the situation. It's a damn shame that the police could not or would not use Brooks' willingness to comply, which characterized most of the encounter, to reach a non-violent conclusion to the matter and it demonstrates much of what's broken about policing in America. It's freakin' HORRIBLE.
What are you actually saying? DUI offenders shouldn't be arrested? That cuffing someone is a violent act? Talking to someone calmly and politely for half an hour is escalating?
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