Atlanta Police Officer Who Shot Rayshard Brooks Is Reinstated

ATLANTA — The police officer who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks, setting off a summer of protest and unrest in Atlanta, was reinstated, according to reports.

The city’s Civil Service Board reinstated former Atlanta Police Department Officer Garrett Rolfe, determining that “due to the City’s failure to comply with several provisions of the Code and the information received during witnesses’ testimony, the Board concludes the Appellant was not afforded his right to due process.”

The document reinstating Rolfe, obtained from the city of Atlanta, pointed to city code specifying that an employee being terminated or receiving any sort of adverse employment action “shall be given a written notice of proposed adverse action, signed by the appointing authority or designee, at least 10 working days prior to the effective date of the proposed adverse action.”

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms called for Rolfe’s ouster last June just a day after the incident that led to Brooks’ death — and amid the growing fervor over the death of George Floyd at the hands of police.

“Given the volatile state of our city and nation last summer, the decision to terminate this officer, after he fatally shot Mr. Brooks in the back, was the right thing to do,” Bottoms said in a statement. “Had immediate action not been taken, I firmly believe that the public safety crisis we experienced during that time would have been significantly worse.”

However, the Civil Service Board document stated that Rolfe's swift termination did not follow proper protocol.

“The City’s actions were not compliant with the 10 days prior notice period as required by the Code,” the document reads.

The decision comes just a day after Bottoms announced that interim Police Chief Rodney Bryant would become the permanent head of the Atlanta Police Department. Bryant was tapped to lead the department when former Chief Erika Shields stepped down, following the Brooks shooting.

See also: Former Atlanta Police Chief Named Louisville's Top Cop

Rolfe faces criminal charges, including felony murder, for the shooting death, and he will remain on administrative leave until those charges are resolved.

Brooks tussled with Rolfe and Officer Devin Brosnan as they tried to arrest him after he failed a field sobriety test on the night of June 12, 2020. He knocked Brosnan down and took his Taser, and aimed the Taser at Rolfe as he ran away. Rolfe shot Brooks in the back.

Former Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard brought the charges against Rolfe (along with lesser charges against Brosnan) in the run-up to his re-election bid against challenger Fani Willis. But in February, after defeating Howard, Willis indicated that she would turn the case over to State Attorney General Christopher Carr to identify a different prosecutor who wasn’t tainted by potential election ambitions.