The police officer who shot dead Rayshard Brooks begged the father-of-four to live as he desperately administered CPR to the dying man, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Former officer Garrett Rolfe, 27, shot Brooks twice in the back on Friday June 12 when a peaceable call-out suddenly escalated into unspeakable violence.
Rolfe’s bodycam came off during the violent altercation that erupted when he tried to cuff Brooks telling him he’d had too much to drink to be driving.
But the camera never stopped recording, as it was picked up and carried around by other officers called out to investigate the shooting before eventually being returned to its owner.
Now, DailyMail.com can reveal what happened in the moments after the shooting when Rolfe and fellow officer Devin Brosnan, 26, desperately fought to save Brooks’ life.
DailyMail.com can reveal that Officer Rolfe begged Rayshard Brooks to stay alive after shots were fired, as seen on the officer’s body camera
Amid angry shouts and accusations from bystanders Rolfe can be clearly heard pleading, ‘Mr. Brooks keep breathing. Keep breathing for me
Brooks’ blue shirt can be seen surrounded by officers who tried to save his life
Former officer Garrett Rolfe, 27, shot Rayshard Brooks twice in the back on June 12 when he tried to arrest him in Atlanta
Amid angry shouts and accusations from by-standers Rolfe can be clearly heard pleading, ‘Mr. Brooks keep breathing. Keep breathing for me.’
The jerky bodycam footage captures him kneeling on the ground and administering CPR to the bleeding man while Brosnan looks on.
Rolfe administered CPR until the ambulance arrived and can be heard repeatedly calling Mr. Brooks’ name as he tried to keep him alive.
Rolfe was the second officer to arrive at the call out to the Wendy’s on University Avenue, Atlanta Friday night.
He arrived ten minutes after Officer Devin Brosnan, 26, who was first to respond to the fateful 911 call that reported that Brooks was blocking the drive-thru lane after drunkenly falling asleep at the wheel of his car.
DailyMail.com revealed just how close Brosnan came to letting the whole incident slide.
His bodycam recorded how he woke Brooks and asked him to pull into a parking space only to have to do so again when Brooks immediately fell back asleep.
Brosnan then watched as Brooks ploughed over the curb of the space into which he was directed to pull. Returning to his patrol car Brosnan pondered, ‘Do I want to deal with this guy right now?’ before deciding he should check on Brooks having clearly smelt alcohol on his breath.
The interaction that followed prompted Brosnan to call in a possible DUI and request another officer. Rolfe arrived around 10.56pm.
At 11.22pm, after giving a muddled though polite account of his evening and drinking and failing field sobriety tests, Brooks blew 0.108 on the breathalyzer (0.008 is considered too drunk to drive).
The jerky bodycam footage captures officers kneeling on the ground and administering CPR to the bleeding man while Brosnan looks on
A blurred screenshot of the video shows Brooks’ body on the ground as CPR is administered
At one point Rolfe asked a passing officer, ‘Do I have blood on my elbow?’ Searching out disinfectant wipes he said, ‘I don’t know if it’s his or mine.’
He told the officers that he had been out celebrating his daughter’s eighth birthday earlier that day. Brooks had four children – three daughters ages one, two and eight and a 13-year-old stepson.
Rolfe informed Brooks, ‘I think you’ve had too much to drink,’ and moved to cuff him when Brooks tried to make a break for it.
Devin Brosnan has been placed on administrative duty pending an investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations
Brooks punched one of the officers, stole Brosnan’s taser and made a run for it.
He turned to shoot the stun gun at Rolfe who pursued, ditching his own taser and unholstering his gun in that instant.
The entire altercation, from its start to its end when three shots can be heard ringing out, lasted less than one minute.
Brooks received surgery but died in the early hours of June 13 due to organ failure and blood loss caused by the two bullets that struck him in the back.
While medics worked on Brooks, Rolfe’s bodycam continued to run recording the scenes in the Wendy’s parking lot as Rolfe called to report an officer involved shooting and request a union representative.
At one point he asked a passing officer, ‘Do I have blood on my elbow?’ Searching out disinfectant wipes he said, ‘I don’t know if it’s his or mine.’
The shooting has been ruled a homicide and Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard has said he expects to bring charges midweek. According to Howard it would be difficult for Rolfe to argue self-defense based on the evidence he has seen.
He has said that the three charges which are ‘relevant,’ in this case are murder, felony murder and a third, less likely, charge of aggravated assault.
Howard has said, ‘I believe in this instance, what we have to choose between – if there’s a choice to be made – is between murder and felony murder.’
Another video shows that as he’s running away from Rolfe, Brooks (right) is seen turning around and pointing a Taser gun at the cop. That is what prompted Rolfe to shoot him twice in the back
Brooks is pictured with wife Tomika Miller and three of his four daughters. She said she now feels like a ‘statistic’ having been rendered a single black mother by the cops’ killing her husband
Rolfe was fired immediately after the shooting and Brosnan has been placed on administrative duty pending an investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.
Atlanta Police Department have released both officers’ disciplinary records which showed that Rolfe had twelve reports made against him including five vehicle accidents, four citizens’ complaints, one use of force and one firearms discharge in addition to the Brooks incident.
He was exonerated on all three of the citizens’ complaints and three of the vehicle accidents but received a written reprimand for his use of force and one vehicle incident as well as an oral reprimand for another.
No action was taken in any others.
Records show that he had recently trained in de-escalation tactics, had passed a course entitled, ‘Use of Deadly Force,’ in January and done coursework in cultural awareness in April. Rolfe had also completed multiple courses in tactical team operations and firearms training.