Posted on November 27, 2022

Atlanta City Council to Pay $1 Million to Family of Man Shot by Police After Firing Taser at Officers

Brittany Bernstein, National Review, November 22, 2022

The Atlanta City Council voted unanimously to approve a $1 million settlement with the widow of Rayshard Brooks, more than two years after he was shot and killed by a police officer in summer 2020.

Two police officers confronted the 27-year-old black man at an Atlanta Wendy’s after receiving complaints that he was sleeping and blocking the drive-thru in June 2020.

After speaking with Brooks for 40 minutes, officers Garrett Rolfe and Devin Brosnan attempted to arrest him for a DUI. Brooks then grabbed one of the officer’s tasers. Brooks began running away and then turned around and fired the taser at Rolfe. Rolfe then fatally shot Brooks in the back and buttocks.

The settlement comes three months after Georgia special prosecutor Peter Skandalakis announced he would dismiss charges against Rolfe and Brosnan in connection with the case, saying the officers acted appropriately in using deadly force. Skandalakis said the use of deadly force was “objectively reasonable” and that he does not believe race played a role in the shooting.

“This isn’t one of those cases,” Skandalakis said. “This is a case in which the officers were willing to give Mr. Brooks every benefit of the doubt and, you know, unfortunately, by his actions, this is what happened.”

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