Rayshard Brooks killing – Indicted ex cop Garrett Rolfe sues to get job & missed earnings back claiming firing illegal
THE former Atlanta cop who tasered and fatally shot Rayshard Brooks is suing the city mayor and interim police chief get his job back.
Garrett Rolfe, 27, filed a lawsuit on August 4 in Fulton County Superior Court seeking to have his job reinstated along with back pay and benefits.
According to the , the lawsuit Rolfe filed claims his termination was “without an investigation” which violated city code.
Brooks, also 27, was shot in the back by Rolfe as he fled police outside a Wendy’s fast-food restaurant on June 12.
Rolfe was fired the following day by Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and now-former Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields, who resigned in the wake of the shooting.
Rolfe, who had worked for the police department sine 2013, claims in the court documents that the shooting was justified, alleging that Brooks violently resisted arrest.
On the night of June 12, Rolfe and another officer, Devin Brosnan, responded to a call that Brooks had fallen asleep in a Wendy’s drive-thru lane.
It is believed Brooks was chatting cooperatively with officers minutes before his death, saying he had a couple of drinks to celebrate his daughter’s birthday and agreeing to a breath test.
“I know you’re just doing your job,” Brooks says on video after consenting to the breath test. “I just had a few drinks, that’s all.”
After failing a sobriety test an altercation occurred between Brooks and the two cops.
They began wrestling on the ground and fighting over a taser gun before Brooks took the weapon and bolted.
It was then when Rolfe fatally shot Brooks.
“FELONY MURDER”
showed that Brooks died from organ damage and blood loss relating to two gunshot wounds in the back.
Brooks left behind three daughters, aged 1, 2 and 8 years old, as well as a 13-year-old stepson, according to .
Rolfe who faces 11 charges, including felony murder, in Brooks’ killing was released on June 30 on a $500,000 bond.
The former cop’s attorney declined to comment, the newspaper reports.
The death of Brooks and George Floyd in Minneapolis resulted in Black Lives Matter protests breaking out all across the U.S.
Some 150 protesters marched to the Wendy’s where Brooks was killed on June 13, a day after the incident. They smashed the windows and set fire to the restaurant.
Some took to to protest, bringing traffic to a standstill.
Brook’s death has not only prompted citywide outrage but was the catalyst for the sudden resignation of Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields.
Mayor Lance Bottoms said Shields was stepping aside “out of a deep and abiding love for this city and this department.”
Shields said: “APD has my full support, and Mayor Bottoms has my support on the future direction of this department.
“I have faith in the Mayor, and it is time for the city to move forward and build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.”
