Two white police officers in Atlanta involved in a 27-year-old Black man’s fatal shooting in the 2020 encounter won’t be facing any charges, a Georgia special prosecutor announced has announced.
He said that the officers acted reasonably in response to a deadly threat.
“Both acted as reasonable officers would under the facts and circumstances of the events of that night,” special prosecutor Peter Skandalakis said on Tuesday, reports CNN.
“Both acted in accordance with well-established law and were justified in the use of force regarding the situation.”
The decision comes two years after Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed outside a Wendy’s restaurant following an altercation with the two officers who tried to arrest him for DUI.
According to the prosecutors, after overpowering officers Garrett Rolfe and Devin Brosnan, Brooks took a Taser from Brosnan and ran away.
While fleeing, he turned back and fired the stolen Taser at office Rolfe, who then shot Brooks twice, killing him on the spot, prosecutors said.
The whole incident was caught on video, including bodycam footage, Wendy’s surveillance video and witness mobile video.
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Special prosecutor Pete Skandalakis said that they “committed no crimes” and “acted as reasonable officers” and added that the use of force was justified.
He said his office would “file in Fulton County an administrative dismissal in which we will be dismissing all the warrants” against Rolfe and Brosnan.
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Meanwhile, attorneys representing Brooks’ family expressed their disagreement with the decision during a press conference on Tuesday evening.
“They got it wrong because a Fulton County jury will not have the opportunity to hear this case and that’s a travesty of justice,” attorney Justin Miller with Stewart Miller Simmons Trial Attorneys was quoted as saying.
(With inputs from agencies)
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