On Tuesday, a black Georgia sheriff told CNN anchor Brianna Keilar that Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe was “completely justified” to use lethal force against Rayshard Brooks, who was shot and killed after resisting arrest and grabbing a taser from an officer at the scene.
Keilar started, “The family attorney, in this case, says that police should have tried to catch Brooks instead of shooting at him. What is your reaction to that?”
Sheriff Alfonzo Williams responded, “Having 30 years in the business, police and law enforcement, and 27 of those years having taught use of force and taught hundreds and hundreds of law enforcement officers across the state of Georgia and other states, I just think that he’s a lawyer, he’s not a law enforcement officer. I think that is — it’s just a ridiculous statement.”
He continued, “Obviously, we saw in the video that the — Brooks was engaged in a fight with the officers. They were on the ground. We know that when we’re on the ground, we have a very high likelihood of being hurt or killed. It’s not the place we want to be. This is not a wrestling match. Brooks is able to take a nonlethal weapon, a taser, away from one of the officers, and he flees, they give chase. He’s committed two felony obstruction of an officer counts, and he needs to be held accountable. So they were perfectly justified in running behind Brooks to capture him.”
