By Le Figaro with AFP
A former white Atlanta policeman was taken into custody Thursday the day after his indictment for the “murder” of a young black man, Rayshard Brooks, shot dead on Friday in this large city in the southern United States. Garrett Rolfe, 27, is incarcerated in the Fulton County Jail, according to the facility’s website. The day before, local prosecutor Paul Howard had issued an arrest warrant for him and given him a day to surrender to authorities on his own. A second agent present during the drama, Devin Brosnan, indicted for “aggression”, also surrendered to police on Thursday, but was released on bail, local media reported. He agreed to cooperate with justice and testify against his colleague, according to prosecutor Howard.
On Friday night, employees of a fast food restaurant called the police because a person asleep at the wheel of his car was blocking access to the restaurant’s drive-in. Upon arrival, officers found Rayshard Brooks, 27, intoxicated. The young man had been cooperative for more than half an hour. The situation had escalated when the agents wanted to arrest him: he had seized the Taser gun of one of the police officers and had fled. Agent Rolfe then opened fire, although, according to the prosecutor, “Mr. Brooks was not an immediate threat. ” According to the official autopsy, he died after being shot twice in the back.
Garrett Rolfe was immediately fired from the police and his colleague assigned to administrative duties. But the drama has rekindled anger in the United States since the death of George Floyd, an African-American suffocated by a white Minneapolis policeman on May 25.
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