The former Atlanta police officer who was charged with murder after fatally shooting Rayshard Brooks during an attempted DUI arrest has sued the city’s mayor and acting police chief, saying the officials illegally fired him before conducting an investigation into the incident.
Garrett Rolfe and his former partner Devin Brosnan responded to a call on June 12 at a Wendy’s where Brooks had allegedly fallen asleep in his vehicle in the restaurant’s drive-through. The then-officers believed Brooks was intoxicated, and when they attempted to arrest Brooks, he resisted and wrestled Brosnan’s taser away from him during a scuffle.
Video footage of the incident shows that as Brooks attempted to flee, he turned around and attempted to fire the taser at Rolfe, who responded by firing three rounds from his service weapon at Brooks. Two of the shots hit Brooks in the back, killing him.
The next day, Rolfe was fired. But he says he was acting within the scope of his position and that his termination was done illegally.
LAW.com first reported that Rolfe filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lane Bottoms (D) and interim police chief Rodney Bryant, claiming the respondents violated the law by denying him “procedural due process protections” and his Constitutional rights because he was fired prior to the incident being investigated. – READ MORE
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