Police bullet hit family car during Rayshard Brooks shooting: lawyer
A stray police bullet in the Atlanta shooting death of Rayshard Brooks hit a car with children inside, a lawyer for the slain man’s family said Monday.
Chris Stewart, who represents Brooks’ family in the wake of the fatal Friday shooting outside a Wendy’s restaurant, said at a press conference that one of the shots fired by ex-Atlanta Police Officer Garrett Rolfe came dangerously close to causing another death.
“Let me tell you and show you why shooting in a crowded parking lot is so reckless and so unnecessary for what (Brooks) did,” Stewart said, holding up a photo of a bullet hole in the side of a white car.
“A witness today sent us his vehicle, which was hit by one of Officer Rolfe’s bullets while he and his kids were in the car,” he said. “A couple of feet up and we would have had another loss of life. So try to justify the action of shooting at Mr. Brooks as he’s running away in a crowded Wendy’s parking lot when you could easily catch him later for what started off as a very non-confrontational situation.”
“It can’t be justified,” Stewart said. “It cannot be justified, otherwise we’re going to continue to lose lives from stray bullets shooting at someone that should’ve never been shot at.”
Brooks, 27, was questioned by cops after falling asleep in his car in the restaurant’s drive-thru. Rolfe and a second cop, Devin Brosnan, gave him a field sobriety test, and got into a struggle with Brooks when they tried to handcuff him.
He ran off with one cop’s Taser and was shot twice in the back as he ran — with the third bullet allegedly hitting the nearby car.
Rolfe was fired the following day, and prosecutors now say he could face a murder charge in the case.