Devin Bronsan, who was present but did not fire shots, is seen in a mugshot on Thursday
Devin Brosnan, one of two Atlanta police officers charged in the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks, has not agreed to be a witness for the prosecution, his lawyer said on Thursday, contradicting an assertion made by the lead prosecutor on the case.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard had told a news conference on Wednesday that Brosnan had turned ‘state witness’, agreeing to help prosecute Garrett Rolfe, the other officer charged in the killing of Brooks on June 12.
Rolfe, who shot Brooks in the back with his gun as Brooks fired a stolen police Taser at him, was charged with felony murder and 10 other charges.
Brosnan, who did not discharge his weapon, faces a handful of lesser charges, including aggravated assault and violation of his oath.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard had told a news conference on Wednesday that Brosnan had turned ‘state witness’, which Bronsan’s attorney says is false
The death of Brooks further heightened U.S. social tensions at a time of national soul searching over police brutality and racism in the criminal justice system.
Don Samuel, Brosnan’s lawyer, said that while his client had told Howard’s office ‘everything that happened’ during a lengthy interview and would cooperate with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s probe he had not agreed to be ‘state’s witness’.
‘Officer Brosnan has not agreed to testify. He has not agreed to plead guilty,’ Samuel said in an emailed statement. ‘He will continue to tell the DA or the GBI, or any other investigator what happened.’
Samuel described the decision to charge his client ‘irrational’ and politically-motivated.
He said Brosnan’s conduct on the night of the shooting was ‘exemplary’ and a ‘textbook example’ of how an officer should approach a situation involving someone inebriated, as Brooks was that night.
While Brosnan did not fire his gun, Howard charged him with aggravated assault for allegedly standing on Brooks’ body after he was shot and for violating his oath of office by not rendering medical aid immediately after he went down.
Samuel said Brosnan, despite suffering a concussion during a tussle with Brooks, rushed to provide medical aid.
‘He removed Mr. Brooks’ shirt and along with the other officer applied first aid, including CPR,’ Samuel said. ‘Despite a crowd that was yelling, Devin did what he could to save Mr. Brooks.’
Pictured: Police body cam footage from the arrest of Rayshard Brooks on June 12, 2020. Brooks was being arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence
Rolfe, who was fired from the force and faces a felony murder charge, has until 6pm on Thursday to surrender.
Rolfe’s attorney has said that Brooks ‘was not running away’ when he died.
Lance LoRusso also disputed a number of other claims made by the district attorney, Paul Howard Jr, when the charges of felony murder for the shooting of Brooks, 27, were announced.
‘Mr. Brooks was not running away,’ he said, while speaking to Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Wednesday on her show, ‘The Ingraham Angle’.
‘Mr. Brooks turned and offered extreme violence toward a uniformed law enforcement officer. If he was able to deploy the Taser, it would incapacitate Officer [Garrett] Rolfe through his body armor, and at that point, if he decided to disarm another officer, he would be in possession of a firearm.’
LoRusso also contended DA Howard’s claim that the officers did not provide medical assistance to Brooks for two minutes and 12 seconds after he was shot, and the claim that Rolfe kicked Brooks as he lay dying on the floor.
‘My client never kicked Mr. Brooks,’ the lawyer said. ‘If there was a video of my client kicking Mr. Brooks, you would have seen it.
‘He [the DA] shows a still [where] one leg is planted and the other one’s bent. He could be leaning down to try to give him first aid, it could have been when he was trying to evaluate whether he needed handcuffs.
‘This officer gave him CPR, monitored his pulse prior to that, talked to him to try to keep him breathing and called for EMS and coordinated other efforts on the scene.’
LoRusso also went on to contest the Attorney General’s claim that he has never seen another officer testify against a colleague, to which LoRusso said that that Rolfe had ‘testified against an Atlanta Police officer in the grand jury when that officer had done something wrong.
‘So, this is an officer who’s known to the law enforcement community, he’s known to the DA’s office, and he was actually cleared of another use of force [incident] and he testified on behalf of the DA to prosecute a bad officer,’ he told Ingraham.