On the night of June 12, 2020, Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old African American man, was fatally shot by Atlanta Police Department (APD) officer Garrett Rolfe.
APD officer Devin Brosnan was responding to a complaint that Brooks was asleep in a car in a Wendy's restaurant drive-through lane. Rolfe arrived minutes later and conducted a weapons search pat-down, a field sobriety test, and breathalyzer test of Brooks. While talking with officers, Brooks offered several times to walk home. After the breathalyzer, Rolfe stated Brooks was too drunk to drive and attempted to arrest him.
A physical confrontation ensued, during which Brooks struck officer Brosnan, grabbed Brosnan's taser and attempted to run away. Rolfe pursued Brooks on foot, and Brooks turned and fired the taser toward Rolfe. Rolfe then fired his gun three times at Brooks, hitting him twice. A third shot struck an occupied car. By the time Brooks was shot by Rolfe, the taser had fired twice, the maximum times it could be fired. Brooks died after surgery.
Video recorded from the officers' bodycams, a witness's phone and the restaurant's security system, was widely broadcast. Police chief Erika Shields resigned one day later; that same day, Rolfe was fired and Brosnan was placed on administrative duty. Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard charged Rolfe with felony murder and ten other offenses; Brosnan with aggravated assault and two counts of violation of oath.
Howard used video clips from the shooting in his campaign commercials for his unsuccessful 2020 reelection bid. Howard's successor decided the DA's office could not prosecute the charges against Rolfe. On May 5, 2021, the Civil Service Board of the City of Atlanta reinstated Rolfe with back pay, after finding that the City of Atlanta did not afford him his right to due process.
In June 2022, Rolfe and Brosnan filed a federal lawsuit alleging that they were attacked by Brooks and had the right to use force to prevent him from “imminent use of unlawful force against them.” On August 23, 2022, prosecutors announced that they had dropped all charges against both officers, saying that "the use of deadly force was objectively reasonable and that they did not act with criminal intent."
Brooks' family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Atlanta in September 2021. Both parties reached a $1 million dollar settlement in November 2022.
People involved
Rayshard Brooks was a 27-year-old African American restaurant worker who lived in Atlanta. He had been married eight years and had three daughters and a stepson. In August 2014, he was convicted and sentenced to a year in prison on four counts, including false imprisonment and felony cruelty to children. Two years later he was sentenced to an additional 12 months for violating his probation. In a February 2020 interview, Brooks discussed the two years he spent in prison and his difficulties after being released, such as difficulty finding work. A driving under the influence conviction or drug possession conviction could have led to revocation of his probation and a return to prison. Garrett Rolfe had been a police officer in the Atlanta Police Department since 2013. He was part of APD units specializing in DUI enforcement. In 2016, he received a written reprimand for aiming his gun at a stolen car being pursued. In early 2020, he undertook training in the use of deadly force and in de-escalation. Devin Brosnan has been an Atlanta police officer since 2018.
Death
At 10:42 p.m. on Friday, June 12, 2020, Atlanta Police Department officer Devin Brosnan arrived at the Wendy's restaurant at 125 University Avenue in South Atlanta to investigate a report of a man (Brooks) asleep in a car which was blocking the drive-through lane. Brosnan awakened Brooks and told him to move the car to a parking space and take a nap; Brooks fell asleep again without moving the car. Brosnan again woke Brooks and Brooks parked the car. Brosnan checked Brooks's driver's license and radioed for assistance from an officer certified to conduct driving under the influence investigations.
