Fulton County DA announces decision on charges for cop who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks.
, and important context that may be presented in potential criminal or civil trials.
“What about this suddenly turns into fear of Mr. Brooks having a weapon on him?” Macfarlane said. “Even just the mention, just the question whether you’re armed even though I know it’s routine, I think turns this into an encounter that now feels much more dangerous than it did just a few minutes before.”in a civil case, Macfarlane says, she’d want everyone involved to see the early footage, well before the shooting took place.
“This is, I think, one of the key moments here,” said David Harris, professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh. “Police officers always have discretion on how they will handle any particular situation with very limited exceptions.” Macfarlane said police are given broad constitutional authority to arrest someone or continue to detain them when there is probable cause that they have committed a crime. After Brooks failed the breathalyzer test, and even before, they had enough probable cause to continue to detain him, she says.
“In the midst of this explosion of concern over African Americans and the police and he’s reading and watching the same things on TV that all the rest of us are, he’s stopped by police and it looks like they're not being reasonable and taking a long time and he begins to worry," suggested Nunn, who also serves as the assistant director of the criminal justice center at the University of Florida.
“The basic idea is that force is divided into levels, usually I think in terms of six levels, and you’re allowed as a police officer to use enough force to overcome the resistance you face,” Harris said. “If you’re facing no resistance you don’t get to use any force except what’s necessary to handcuff an individual.”
In the culminating moments of the interaction, Brooks is seen on surveillance footage running from the officers. In his hand is Brosnan’s Taser, which Brooks turns and fires at Rolfe. After Brooks unsuccessfully deploys the Taser, Rolfe reaches for his handgun and fires three shots as Brooks runs. Brooks falls.
But in envisioning how a prosecutor may approach a criminal case against Rolfe, Gardner says Brooks’ possession and deployment of the Taser would be taken into consideration. In his view, Harris says there is no visible threat of death or serious injury, noting that because of the prior pat down, officers know the only weapon in Brooks’ possession is the Taser.
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