Atlanta DA Said Rayshard Brooks Shooting a Taser at Cops Was “Not a Threat”

[jimnyc]

Tucker Carlson addresses this in the video at the bottom.

I've been having mixed emotions about so many things. Black lives do matter, and all police brutality towards them should be fixed. And my first instinct in this case was why deadly force so quickly? Why not do this, or do that? Questioning the events of course.

But then listening to the other side, I see what they have to say as well. This man just fought 2 police officers and was overpowering both of them and was able to take the one officers weapon away from him, the taser in question. While running away and the officer giving chase right behind him, he turns halfway around while running and tries to shoot him with the taser. The cop immediately shoots him.

Other factors were that he also kicked him while he was down on the ground. The emotion of everything got the best of him and he wrongly lashed out. But then proceeded to give CPR and try to save his life, to no avail of course.

So many questions. Did the cop himself fear he was about to die, or that it's easier to be killed if he were tased? How do we know what he felt in those moments after being overpowered? I'm not a cop nor investigator. From afar and slower video and the benefit of thinking it all out, it's easy to sit back and say why not let him run? Why not shoot in the legs? Why not this or that?

But was this felony murder? A cop faces death - after his life was potentially on the line and he responded with force.

These cases coming down against the police are huge. The endings might be even more so. This is already having fallout on other officers, afraid to go to work, now afraid to do their jobs as folks won't support them. And heaven help these areas if these men are found to be not guilty. It'll be riot time all over again. Glad I won't be on the jury!

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Atlanta DA Paul Howard Said Taser is a “Deadly Weapon” Just Two Weeks Ago – Today He Said Rayshard Brooks Shooting a Taser at Cops Was “Not a Threat”

Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard, Jr. announced charges on Wednesday afternoon in the death of Rayshard Brooks last weekend at a Wendy’s restaurant in Atlanta.

Brooks was killed by police after resisting arrest, wrestling with the police, punching one officer in the face, stealing the officer’s taser and then firing on the officers.

DA Howard, Jr. says officials spoke to three witnesses and reviewed eight videos of the attempted arrest and shooting.

Eleven charges were announced including felony murder by the officer involved in the shooting of Rayshard Brooks.

Rest - https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/06/atlanta-da-dean-howard-said-taser-deadly-weapon-just-two-weeks-ago-today-said-rayshard-brooks-shooting-taser-cops-not-threat-video/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opMrJ0zNLhs

[jimnyc]

A good point to think about:

"Should this officer have been charged with murder? Or is he being sacrificed for the sins of bad cops who should have been charged but were not, and to keep peace in a city already ravaged by weeks of rioting?"

--

Look at the facts in the Rayshard Brooks case. The George Floyd killing was different.

It has been three weeks, and I still can’t clear the image of a blue knee squeezing the breath out of George Floyd.

I wish I could put what happened to Floyd in a box labeled “isolated incident.” But that’s not possible because Floyd’s death is a dot in an unbroken line of similar incidents.

We’ve reached the point where we need to set aside tortured explanations that seek to absolve police. We must acknowledge the obvious — some cops treat African Americans much worse than white people.

From the horrifying flashpoint of Floyd’s killing came weeks of cops punching, gassing and shooting peaceful protesters and journalists. Then, on Friday night, a white Atlanta police officer shot and killed a Black man in a Wendy’s parking lot after an altercation. It took less than 48 hours for the wildfire of racism allegations to spread, for Atlanta’s mayor to fire the officer,for the police chief to resign, and for an angry mob to seek vindication by burning the hamburger restaurant to the ground.

Not all killings are racially motivated
I empathize with the frustration and fury accompanying every “breaking news” bulletin that includes a white law enforcement officer and a dead African American. Decades of unjustified police shootings trigger an expectation that today’s is just like yesterday’s — and both are going to be covered with the walls of institutional privilege that often work to bury police misconduct while ignoring the African American bodies that are literally buried in its service.

I genuinely get it.

But not every white officer who shoots an African American man is motivated by racism, and not every police shooting is a crime.

Facts matter. Here are the facts leading up to the shooting:

►On Friday night, a Wendy’s employee called 911 to say a man appeared drunk and asleep behind the wheel of his car at the Wendy’s drive-through.

►Atlanta police responded, knocked on the window of Rayshard Brooks’ car, and asked him whether he was all right.

►During a conversation with Brooks, he denied being in the Wendy’s drive-through though one of the officers talked to him there moments earlier. Brooks also didn’t know he was in Atlanta.

►Suspecting he was under the influence of alcohol, the officer performed field sobriety tests, including a breathalyzer. Brooks was drunk.

►The officer told Brooks he was too intoxicated to drive and asked him to put his hands behind his back so he could be taken into custody for driving under the influence.

►Brooks pulled away and started fighting the officers, managing to throw both of them off him.

► Brooks grabbed a Taser from one of the officers and ran. The other officer tried to stop Brooks with his Taser but a chase ensued.

► While running, Brooks turned and pointed the stolen Taser at the officer. He then shot the Taser at the officer.

► Seconds later, the officer shot Brooks.


That a man died is tragic. But the protests, celebrity outcry and general media capitulation that equates Brooks’ death with that of George Floyd, and countless other African Americans who were murdered at the hands of flagrant police misconduct, is wrong.

In a headline reminiscent of the National Enquirer, the Los Angeles Times ran an editorial Tuesday titled: “Atlanta police killed a Black man for being drunk at Wendy’s.” No. Mr. Brooks was not killed for being drunk.

.....

Rather than mindlessly amplifying the knee-jerk outrage from commentators who don’t know the facts, people should watch the video. Then they should make their own assessments as to whether the officer was motivated by racism, or whether he was just a cop who was terrified and who tried to protect himself after being shot at with a Taser that was stolen in an attack seconds earlier.

Should this officer have been charged with murder? Or is he being sacrificed for the sins of bad cops who should have been charged but were not, and to keep peace in a city already ravaged by weeks of rioting?

There is no shortage of police misconduct due to racism. Combing through the public videos of the past several weeks alone could keep prosecutors busy for the foreseeable future. But rushing to claim racism and misconduct where it may not exist does not support the mission; it weakens it. And eliminating racism in policing is too righteous a cause to march anywhere but forward.

Rest - https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/06/18/brooks-floyd-deaths-police-misconduct-not-always-racist-column/3206372001/

[Gunny]

All lives matter and police brutality without adjectives/nouns/pronouns is wrong and already unlawful.

The bad guys are winning because the good guys are cowards. And yes, that's a twist on Edmund Burke.

[Kathianne]

All lives matter and police brutality without adjectives/nouns/pronouns is wrong and already unlawful.

The bad guys are winning because the good guys are cowards. And yes, that's a twist on Edmund Burke.

Actually there are people who are paying a huge price for speaking out, providing an object lesson for anyone that is trying to support their family:

https://hotair.com/archives/john-s-2/2020/06/18/vermont-high-school-principal-placed-leave-privately-criticizing-black-lives-matter/


A Vermont High School Principal Was Placed On Leave After Criticizing Black Lives Matter On Facebook
JOHN SEXTONPosted at 2:41 pm on June 18, 2020

Another example of the ongoing cancel culture wave, this time in Vermont. A high school principal named Tiffany Riley posted some statements on Facebook which offered support for the idea that black lives matter but questioned the truthfulness of some claims made by those associated with the group:


I firmly believe that Black Lives Matter, but I DO NOT agree with the coercive measures taken to get to this point across; some of which are falsified in an attempt to prove a point. While I want to get behind BLM, I do not think people should be made to feel they have to choose black race over human race. While I understand the urgency to feel compelled to advocate for black lives, what about our fellow law enforcement? What about all others who advocate for and demand equity for all? Just because I don’t walk around with a BLM sign should not mean I am a racist.


I don’t know which “falsified” claims Riley is talking about but there are certainly many to choose from. For instance, many recent protests have featured people chanting “hands up, don’t shoot” despite the fact that the incident from which this slogan arose never happened.

...

[Gunny]

Actually there are people who are paying a huge price for speaking out, providing an object lesson for anyone that is trying to support their family:

https://hotair.com/archives/john-s-2/2020/06/18/vermont-high-school-principal-placed-leave-privately-criticizing-black-lives-matter/I consider people being punished for speaking out/voicing their opinions to be as much of a crime as any other.

Sure, when you open your mouth and put the words out there, you deserve whatever WORDS come back. Screwing with their livelihoods/families just goes to show how low down our society has become. It amounts to nothing more than thought, or at least, speech control.

And it doesn't change a thing about the people are thinking. It just silences them.