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Rayshard Brooks: 911 Call Details Moments Before Police Killing

A Wendy’s employee had told a dispatcher that Brooks had passed out in the restaurant’s drive thru line.

The 911 call that led to the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks by an Atlanta police officer was released Monday (June 15) and creates an even clearer picture of what happened in the Wendy’s parking lot.

Atlanta station WSB-TV reports that a Wendy’s employee on the night of June 12 made the call when Brooks stopped in the middle of a drive-thru line and had apparently passed out. 

The worker can be heard on the phone with a dispatcher describing the situation.

“I have a car, I think he’s intoxicated, in my drive thru. I tried to wake him up, but he’s parked dead in the middle of my drive-thru. I don’t know what’s wrong with him,” the employee said.

Atlanta police officers Garrett Rolfe and Devin Brosnan responded to the call. They got him to move his car out of the drive-thru line and gave him a sobriety test. After that witness and security video shows at first a calm conversation between the officers and Brooks, then a struggle as they try to handcuff him. Once Brooks grabs a taster from one of the officers, he tries to flee. Rolfe fired the fatal shots at Brooks back.

Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Paul Howard told CNN a decision on charging Rolfe would be made by Wednesday. “It's very difficult when you see [the video], when you see the demeanor of Mr. Brooks to imagine that some short time later it ends up with him being dead,” he said in an interview with the network. 

Brooks death was declared a homicide on Sunday (June 14) by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office, WSB-TV reported. Rolfe was fired over the weekend.

In an emotional press conference on Monday (June 15) Brooks’ widow, Tomika Miller, along with several members of the Brooks family including his 13-year old stepson, Mekhai, daughters Memory, Dream and Blessing, whose eighth birthday was on the day after her father was killed, spoke to the press. Miller provided her reactions to the shooting and insight to the man she refers to as her “best friend.”

“There is no justice that can ever make me feel happy about what has been done. I can tell my daughter oh he’s coming to take you skating or swimming lessons. It’s just going to be a long time before I heal and this family heals,” she said.

BET has been covering every angle of the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and other social justice cases and the subsequent aftermath and protests. For our continuing coverage, click here.

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