Atlanta Officer Who Killed Rayshard Brooks Involved In Shooting Of Another Unarmed Black Man
Details have emerged about the past behavior of the Atlanta police officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks in the back. Apparently Garrett Rolfe, who has been fired from the force and is currently facing felony murder and other charges for shooting and killing Brooks, has been named as one of three officers involved in a 2015 incident where an unarmed, Black man named Jackie Jermaine Harris was also shot by police.
Harris was shot by officers during a car chase and arrest, according to court records and police incident reports obtained by CNN. The officers fired five shots, and Harris was struck once in the back, according to court testimony.
Three police reports were filed in relation to the incident, and yet only one mentioned that Harris was actually shot. One report that was filed three days after the incident concludes with, "No injuries were reported, and there is nothing further to report at this time" while another specified that the only force that was used was a baton to break the vehicle’s driver side window to apprehend Harris.
Multiple arrest citations issued by the officers also fail to mention a possible shooting, according to paperwork provided to CNN by Judge Doris Downs, who presided over Davis's hearing in 2016.
In January of 2016, Harris sent a letter to Judge Downs from jail while he was awaiting trial, writing, "I was shot at numerous times, and struck once in the back by an Atlanta Police Officer. I had no weapon and didn't try in any way to cause harm to the officer. This Atlanta Police Officer used unjustifiable lethal force against me. I also feel that the Atlanta Police Department is trying to cover up their wrongdoing. Nowhere in the police report does it say anything about my being shot or the lethal force that was used against me."
Harris' account was corroborated by the assistant district attorney, who, according to court transcripts from a May 2016 hearing, said he watched video of the incident, and agrees Harris was shot.
During that same hearing, Judge Downs called out the officers for not including the shooting in the incident report.
"None of the police put in the report that they shot the man, none of them," Downs said, according to a transcript of the hearing. "And they sent him to Grady [Hospital] with collapsed lungs and everything, and the report doesn't mention it. I am ethically going to be required to turn all of them in. I think it's the wildest case I've ever seen in my 34 years here."
Brooks, 27, was killed in a Wendy’s parking lot on June 12 by police, who were called after he fell asleep in the drive-thru line. Bodycam video shows that Brooks was cooperative with police and unarmed during their interaction, and was shot in the back as he ran away.
