Al Hogan, the Atlanta detective assigned to the investigation into the deadly shooting of Rayshard Brooks claimed he would have sought ten charges against Brooks for events that led up to the shooting. He offered his assessment in a statement dated June 21.
Former Atlanta Police Officer Garrett Rolfe is facing felony charges in the fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks. According to WSBTV, Rolfe faces “11 counts including felony murder and aggravated assault, criminal damage to property, and violations to his oath of office.”
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard Jr. is “recommending no bond for the officer, citing his choice not to provide medical assistance for over two minutes and for kicking Brooks on the ground after the fatal shooting.”
Hogan misspelled Brooks’s first name in his statement, which was included as part of a defense filing for Rolfe. He wrote:
My name is Al Hogan and I have been a Georgia certified law enforcement officer since 1987. I am currently assigned as a detective in the Homicide Unit of the Atlanta Police Department. In addition, I am a members of the Major Incident Team (MIT) which is a small team of Homicide detectives within the Homicide unit that respond and investigate incidents involving police shootings.
As an MIT investigator my responsibilities are [to] narrow series of facts that led up to the officer involved shooting. If my investigation reveals that a person against whom force was used violated any law(s) during the incident, it would be my responsibility to pursue those charges, as well as cooperate with GBI investigators and provide to them any evidence that I had gathered during my investigation.
I am the Homicide/MIT investigator that was assigned the case involving Officers Rolfe and Brosnan regarding their interaction with Rashard Brooks. I was called in from my home shortly after the incident occurred and began my investigation upon my arrival at the scene. I gathered all the audio and video evidence that was available and examined this evidence as well as interviewed witnesses that would speak with me on the scene.
After leaving the scene on the night of the incident, I was informed by Rashard Brooks was alive but critical at Grady hospital, and I returned to the Homicide office to review all the evidence that I had gathered to determine if Rashard Brooks’s behavior warranted any criminal charges.
My investigation showed that Rashard Brooks’s behavior did in fact warrant several criminal charges, but before I was able to pursue the charges I was informed that Rashard brooks had died, negating the necessity for that portion of my investigation.
That charges that I would have sought against Rashard Brooks are:
1. DUE/DUE Less Safe, a violation of OCGA 50-6-391
2. Felony Obstruction, Two Counts, a violation of OCGA 16-10-24
3. Aggravated Assault against a Police Officer, Two Counts, a violation of OCGA 16-5-21
4. Battery against a Police Officer, Two Counts, a violation of OCGA 16-5-23.1
5. Theft by Taking, a violation of OCGA 16-8-2
6. Removal of Weapon from a Public Official, a violation of 16-10-33
7. Robbery, a violation of 16-8-40.1
Sheriff Alfonzo Williams of Burke County, GA, said the Atlanta police officers’ use of deadly force in the fatal shooting of Brooks was “very necessary” and that “there’s nothing malicious or sadistic” in the conduct of the officers who shot him.
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