#BlackLivesMatter: Officer That Shot Rayshard Brooks is Charged with Felony Murder

The Fulton County district attorney announced on June 17th that the former police officer that shot Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta on June 12 faces 11 charges, including felony murder.

Garrett Rolfe was fired after footage showed him shooting Brooks in the back as Brooks fled the scene. Felony murder carries a sentence of life in prison without parole. The other officer on the scene will act as a witness to the state.

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said that standard operating procedures (SOP) for the city prohibit officers from firing a taser at someone running away. “The city of Atlanta SOP, in fact, prohibit officers from firing tasers someone who is running away. So the city of Atlanta says you could not even fire a taser at someone who is running away. So you certainly can’t fire a gun, a handgun at someone who is running away,” he said. He also said that Brooks “never presented himself as a threat.”

Howard also showed footage of the police officer kicking Books while he laid on the ground after he was shot. “Once Mr. Brooks was shot, there is an Atlanta policy that requires that the officers have to provide timely medical attention to Mr. Brooks or to anyone who is injured. But after Mr. Brooks was shot, for some period of two minutes and 12 seconds, there was no medical attention applied to Mr. Brooks,” the district attorney said.

“Unfortunately, this marks the 40th prosecution of police officers for misconduct here in our county. And this is the ninth time that we’ve prosecuted a homicide case committed by a police officer. Eight of those cases involved black males, and one of those cases involved a black female,” Howard said.

Read all our coverage on the protests against racism in One Green Planet:

• #BlackLivesMatter: 10 Inspiring Black Voices Diversifying the Environmental Movement
• #BlackLivesMatter: Victory! NY Repeals 50-A Requiring Full Disclosure of Police Misconduct
• #BlackLivesMatter: Louisville Bans “No-Knock” Raids After Breonna Taylor Was Killed
• #BlackLivesMatter: Killing Black Americans is a Public Health and Human Rights Crisis
• Petition: Justice for Breonna Taylor, Black Woman Killed by Police in her Own Home

Here’s what you can do:

Many organizations like Black Lives Matter, Color of Change, and the NAACP are working to empower black Americans and achieve justice for those impacted by racist systems.

Also, remember to register to vote if you haven’t already. This is one of the simplest ways to make your voice heard as a citizen.Here are some resources for you:

Places to Donate:

• Donate to Black Lives Matter here.
• Get involved with your local BLM chapter: The full list is here or start your own.
• Many protestors are getting arrested and being held. Donate to bail funds in your city, here or here.
• HBCUBuzz has a listing of lawyers and legal resources for protestors, organized by state.
• Resources and donations by the National Police Accountability Project.
• Learn about Campaign Zero, which works to end police violence in America.
• The New York Times has put together an anti-racist reading list.
• National Black Bailout Fund, which works towards ending systems of mass incarceration and freeing imprisoned black mothers.
• Visit Louisville Community Bail Fund to contribute towards bail for protesters in Louisville.

Petitions to Sign:

• Justice for George Floyd
• Petition to end medical racism
• Justice for Breonna Taylor
• Justice for Ahmaud Arbery
• Justice for Tony McDade, Black trans man killed by police
• Sign the “Justice for George Floyd” petition on Change.org
• Color of Change launched a petition asking that all the officers involved in Floyd’s death are brought to justice.

For a more extensive resource list, please see the collection put together by Black Lives Matter.

Through this grief and anger, we must unite and work together to create the change we want to see. Let’s make sure no black child has to ever say these heartbreaking words ever again.

If you’re attending a protest, please be safe and careful and maintain social distancing, if possible.