It’s been almost two years since an Atlanta police officer shot and killed Black father Rayshard Brooks after he was found asleep in a Wendy's drive-thru, but the case—which has been mired in controversy—has barely moved forward at all. Garrett Rolfe, the officer who shot Brooks, hasn’t been indicted. Neither has Devin Brosnan, Rolfe’s peer who responded to the scene. Rolfe, who was initially fired for his role in the shooting, was reinstated, and a new prosecutor had to be appointed when the original district attorney recused herself.
That last part was probably for the best considering the statements released from the Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis seemed better suited to make the defense counsel’s argument than to seek justice for Brooks’ family. However, her office doesn’t seem to be as hesitant to charge those accused in relation to burning down the Wendy’s restaurant following the shooting, as attorney and legal analyst Rebecca Kavanagh pointed out in a tweet on Monday.
Natalie White, 31, John Wesley Wade, 35, and Chisom Kingston, 24, were indicted in January, each facing first-degree arson and conspiracy to commit arson charges, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. They pleaded not guilty on March 4.
“Meanwhile prosecutors have still *not* presented the case against Rolfe to a grand jury,” Kavanagh tweeted.
Willis, who unseated Howard to become the first female district attorney in the county, recused herself from the case after initially being prevented from doing so by Fulton Superior Court Chief Judge Christopher Brasher, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last May.
“This is all extremely peculiar,” Willis told the newspaper at the time. “Judges aren’t usually in the business of telling a prosecutor whether they’re appropriate. The process that is happening now is not a process I can explain because it just doesn’t happen.”
Willis ultimately was allowed to recuse herself, the Associated Press reported. Attorney General Chris Carr appointed in her place Peter Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia.
Neither Willis nor Skandalakis responded to Daily Kos’ requests for comment. Skandalakis confirmed in a statement last July that he is prosecuting the case.
"I and my agency will conduct a thorough review of the facts and circumstances surrounding this case and, as with any case that comes before us, we will proceed where the evidence leads us," he said in the statement. "We recognize that the community is eager for a resolution and we ask for patience as we begin our work."
Rolfe not only shot Brooks, 27, on June 12, 2020, but one of the cops on the scene is accused of then standing on Brooks’ shoulder. Both of the officers waited two minutes and 12 seconds before calling for help, former Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said when he announced his plan for criminal charges against the officers. “During that 2 minutes and 12 seconds, Officer Rolfe actually kicked Mr. Brooks as he laid on the ground, while he was there fighting for his life,” Howard said.
The former district attorney is now the subject of a federal investigation related to his alleged use of a nonprofit to inflate his salary some $200,000, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Willis said in an 11 Alive interview in 2020 that Howard used the case for his own political gain. “I do not have a plan to keep or drop the charges,” she said. “What I plan to do is look at all the evidence, look at the facts and then make charging decisions, but I will do that based on the investigations conducted by the staff there at the district attorney’s office now and based on the reports of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
“Quite frankly, I do not know if we are legally going to be able to keep the Brooks case in Fulton County,” Willis added, “due to the fact that the district attorney chose to have this show, this Ringling Brothers show, that he called a press conference where he went through facts and alleged evidence in the case, and then you combine that with running television ads and commercials on the radio, some may say that that particular defendant, that particular charged person, cannot get a fair trial in this jurisdiction.”
Willis said if that’s the case, Fulton taxpayers will pay for that prosecution, but “it will be the morals and the values of some other office in some other county that will actually get to try that.
“And it is just a shame that we had a DA that would put his own need before justice for the family of the Brooks and the community at large,” Willis said.
By Howard’s account, Rolfe and Brosnan were called to the scene of the restaurant to find Brooks sleeping in his car, which was reportedly obstructing the drive-thru of the restaurant. When officers arrived, one of them asked Brooks to move his car, Howard said, deeming the request a violation of Atlanta police policy related to DUIs.
Body camera footage of the incident showed Brooks calmly answering officers’ questions and admitting that he had been celebrating his daughter’s birthday when he had a few drinks. He failed a sobriety test, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed in its report. When officers tried to arrest Brooks, video showed him jerking away in a scuffle that led to Brooks grabbing one of the officer’s Tasers, running, and being shot twice in the back.
Warning: Body camera video of Brooks’ shooting contains footage that may be triggering for some viewers.
Howard said Rolfe faced a murder charge and 10 other counts including aggravated assault, criminal damage to property, and violating his oath of office, and that Brosnan was being charged with aggravated assault and two counts of violating his oath of office.
That, however, has not led to an indictment.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a statement to Daily Kos that the agency has completed its investigation and given the results to the prosecuting attorney’s council for next steps.
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Monday, Mar 14, 2022 · 6:46:16 PM +00:00 · Lauren Sue
A media spokesperson for Skandalakis' office said in an email to Daily Kos: “This matter is still pending and we have no further updates at this time. Serious felony cases, especially those involving the loss of someone’s life, require ample time to be thoroughly reviewed and investigated. We will post future updates on our website and social media.”
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story stated the officers in the case had not been charged, but that has been corrected to state they have not been indicted.
