Rayshard Brooks Shooting: Police Release Bodycam Video, Officers Could Be Charged This Week

Bodycam video from two officers of the Atlanta Police Department (APD) involved in the shooting death Friday of Rayshard Brooks, another unarmed African-American to die in an officer-involved shooting amid the protests over George Floyd's death, reveals events that began innocently enough but ended in a fatal shooting.

It also fills in the gaps in the entire sequence leading up to Brooks' death on the evening of June 12. Brooks' death is pouring more fuel on the fiery George Floyd protests against police brutality and racism wracking the United States since May 26 and has delivered another martyr to the cause.

The cop videos show one of the two officers involved, Devin Brosnan, trying to awaken Brooks, who is asleep behind the wheel of his car in the drive-thru lane of the Wendy's restaurant on University Avenue. Brooks awakens, talks to Brosnan and falls asleep again.

Brosnan awakens Brooks again and tells him to park his car. He calls for backup. Garrett Rolfe with the APD's High Intensity Traffic Team DUI task force responds. Brosnan tells Rolfe that Brooks is probably drunk.

Rolfe asked Brooks several questions and administers a field sobriety test using a breathalyzer. Brooks' blood alcohol level reads 0.108, which is above the legal limit of 0.08.

Rolfe tells Brooks his alcohol level is too high to drive a vehicle. He orders Brooks to place his hands behind his back and tries to handcuff Brooks.

Suddenly, Brooks begins to wriggle free of both the officers. All of them fall to the ground in the ensuing struggle. Brooks lands a punch on one of the officers.

"Stop fighting! Stop fighting!" shouts Brosnan.

"You’re going to get tased! Stop fighting", he says, and yells "hands off the Taser."

Brooks manages to grab Brosnan's Taser during the scuffle. He wrenches free of the officers and starts to run, pursued by Rolfe.

"He's got my f---ing Taser!" yells Brosnan.

The bodycams of both cops fell to the ground during the struggle. Video showing Brooks turning around to fire the Taser at Rolfe, and Rolfe firing his pistol at the fleeing Brooks was taken from the parking lot surveillance camera of the Wendy's restaurant.

Rolfe fired three times at Brooks and hit him twice. Brooks died in surgery.

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard criticized both cops' handling of the shooting. He said a decision on whether to bring charges might be made by Wednesday.

"(Brooks) did not seem to present any kind of threat to anyone, and so the fact that it would escalate to his death just seems unreasonable," Howard told CNN. "It just seems like this is not the kind of conversation and incident that should have led to someone's death.

Rolfe, who was hired on 2013, was fired Sunday. Brosnan was placed on administrative duty. Both cops haven't been charged; neither are they in jail. Howard said possible charges could include murder, felony murder or involuntary manslaughter.

"Specifically, (the question is if) Officer Rolfe, whether or not he felt that Mr. Brooks, at the time, presented imminent harm of death or some serious physical injury. Or the alternative is whether or not he fired the shot simply to capture him or some other reason," according to Howard.

"If that shot was fired for some reason other than to save that officer's life or to prevent injury to him or others, then that shooting is not justified under the law."