Rayshard Brooks offered “extreme violence” to the officer now charged with murder, the former Atlanta police officer’s defense attorney said on Fox News Wednesday.
An attorney for former Atlanta Police officer Garret Rolfe, who faces felony murder charges for the shooting, defended against claims that the shooting of Brooks was not justified on Fox’s “The Ingraham Angle” Wednesday.
“Mr. Brooks was not running away,” Lance LoRusso, Rolfe’s attorney, told Laura Ingraham. “Mr. Brooks turned and offered extreme violence toward a uniformed law enforcement officer. If he was able to deploy the Taser, it would incapacitate Officer Rolfe through his body armor, and at that point, if he decided to disarm another officer, he would be in possession of a firearm.”
LoRusso’s comments directly oppose those of Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard who announced felony murder charges against Rolfe Wednesday during a press conference. Howard said Brooks “did not pose an immediate threat of death or serious physical injury,” despite allegedly firing a taser at Rolfe, according to CBS News.
Howard also said that neither Rolfe nor Devin Brosnan, the other officer involved in the incident, tried to render first aid to Brooks after he was shot. LoRusso denied that claim.
“He [the DA] shows a still [where] one leg is planted and the other one’s bent. He could be leaning down to try to give him first aid, it could have been when he was trying to evaluate whether he needed handcuffs,” LoRusso said, according to Fox News. “This officer gave him CPR, monitored his pulse prior to that, talked to him to try to keep him breathing and called for EMS and coordinated other efforts on the scene,” he said.
Rolfe faces felony murder charges for allegedly shooting Brooks multiple times while his back was turned, after officers contacted him for a suspected DUI in a Wendy’s parking lot. Body camera footage shows the officers interacting with Brooks before a struggle ensued. Brooks was shot after allegedly grabbing a taser and firing the device at officers.
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