The Daily - The Killing of Rayshard Brooks

Episode Date: June 17, 2020

This episode contains strong language.Rayshard Brooks fell asleep in his car at a Wendy’s drive-through. Soon afterward, he was shot. We look closely at what happened in the minutes in between — and at the unrest his killing has sparked in Georgia.Guest: Richard Fausset, a correspondent based in Atlanta. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: Here is our visual investigation into how Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed by the Atlanta police.The resignation of Atlanta’s police chief, Erika Shields, was the latest in a series of shake-ups at several large police departments.

Atlanta 911, I'm 37729. What's the location, emergency? 125 University. Okay, 125 University Southwest. Is it at the Wendy's? Yes, ma'am. All right, you need police fire ambulance out here. I'm the police. Okay, tell me what's going on. I have a car. I think he's intoxicated. He's in the middle of my drive-thru.

I tried to wake him up, but he's parked dead in the middle of the drive-thru, so I don't know what's wrong with him. At 10.33 on Friday night, an employee of a Wendy's restaurant in South Atlanta called to report that someone had fallen asleep in their car while going through the drive-thru. Is he black? Is he black? Yeah. He black? Okay. A 27-year-old man named Rayshard Brooks. The police would arrive within minutes.

And within the hour, Mr. Brooks would be fatally shot. From the New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Today. This is The Daily. Today, my colleague Richard Fawcett with a close examination of what happened in the police killing of Rayshard Brooks. It's Wednesday, June 17th. At 10.42 p.m., an officer wearing a body camera arrives at the Wendy's and walks up to Mr. Brooks' car. Yo. What's up, my man?

Hey. Hey, man, you're parked in the middle of the drive-thru line here. Mr. Brooks wakes up but appears confused. You good? You don't need an ambulance or anything like that? Are you just tired? The officer asks him if he's okay, if he needs an ambulance. All right, you good? Yeah. All right.

Okay, why don't you move your car into a parking spot, okay? And asks him to kind of move his car out of the way. Over there. I got you. Okay, all right, thank you. A few minutes later. 304 to radio. Go ahead.

We have any available DUI certified officers working in the zone right now? He requests another officer. All right, stay in the car. Stay right there. Hey, what's going on? So, found him passed out. And at 10.56 p.m., Officer Ralph arrives. So somebody called because he was in the drive-thru. He just passed out in the car.

Passed out in the drive-thru. Yep. All right, let me go talk to him. All right. Hey, Mr. Brooks. Hey, Mr. Brooks. Hey, Mr. Brooks. How you doing? Hey, I'm Officer Rolfe of the Atlanta Police Department.

How you doing? I'm doing just fine. All right, so tell me, I wasn't here, so can you tell me what happened before we got here? Nothing happened. I just got here and was getting some needs. Where are you coming from? Well, my friend dropped me off here. And a pretty long interaction ensues from there.

My friend told her, I came here, I met her here. And a pretty long interaction ensues from there. I came here, I met her here from the beginning and she picked me up. I mean, we went out. So you met her here at the Wendy's? Yes. And then you went out with her? Yes. And then she came and dropped you off? Okay. And one of the things that's really odd when you watch the tape is you have two officers who appear to be in a kind of de-escalation mode. What are you, are you here for a visit or what's the... I'm visiting. Where are you visiting? My mother's grave site.

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah. How long has she passed for? It's been probably about a year and a half now, but... Okay, I'm sorry. They're listening to him. Some of it's very intimate conversation. My girlfriend's birthday just passed,

but I went to visit her. Yeah. You know, there's a lot of really kind of what seemed to be really respectful and very low-key conversation about where he was, how much he'd been drinking. You're not being honest with me. How much did you have to pay?

I had one drink. Be honest with me. I had one drink. What kind of drink was a margarita okay how big was the margarita it was just a small cup small cup yes sir all right uh can you take your hat off for me just leave it in your car for me just leave it in your car can you step out with me please yes sir come on back here do you have any weapons on you or anything like that? I don't have anything on me. Is it okay if I pat you down just to make sure? If you... I have just money, gas, and that was it.

Is it okay if I pat you down to make sure you don't have any weapons? Absolutely. You can turn around and face away from me real quick. And everything appears to be very much under control. What should I do, sir? Well, first I just want to know if you're comfortable walking in your shoes. You don't have to do all that.

It's just yes or no. Can you walk in the shoes while I'm following? Yes, sir. Okay, very good. Just turn and face me. Put your feet together with your hands down by your side. Can you see the tip of my finger? Yes, sir. They conducted a field sobriety test of him. Hey, will you take a preliminary breath test for me?

What's that? It's a little handheld machine. I have you blow into it, and that lets me know if you're positive or negative for the presence of alcohol in your breath. I've been drinking. Okay. I do say that. Okay. But what if I take this test, and I don't care about it.

I could walk home. Why would you? I don't have to. Why would you walk home? I just don't want to be in violation of anybody. I can walk, my sister's house is right here. I can just go home. I have my daughter's there right now.

My daughter's birthday was yesterday. Hold on, Mr. Brooks. Will you take a preliminary breath test for me? It's a yes or no. I don't want to refuse anything. It's yes or no. It's completely up to you. Yes, I will. Okay. Just wait here while I grab it. And something we should note here is that we know that Mr. Brooks had a history of legal trouble. And his sister told the New York Times that he had a warrant out for his arrest at this point. It must have been weighing on him.

Oh, man. Just trying to make sure, man, you're safe to drive, that's all. I know, man. I just... You scared me a little bit because you were sleeping in there, so that's why I was making sure you're okay. You know, and then that's. I know, I know. You just doing your job.

All right, just take a deep breath in. Put your mouth over the mouthpiece. Blow as hard as you can until it tells you to stop. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Stop. Very good. I just had a few drinks. And eventually, Officer Ralph says, look, we're going to have to take you in.

I think you've had too much to drink to be driving. Put your hands behind your back for me. You've had too much to drink. Put your hands behind your back. It's now 11.23 p.m. The two officers have been on the scene together for 27 minutes. And up to this point, it all feels like your sort of typical DUI arrest. But then...

Mr. Brooks tries to escape, and in an instant, all three men are fighting on the ground. Stop fighting! Stop fighting! You're gonna get tased! You're gonna get tased! Stop! You're gonna get tased! Stop! Stop! You're gonna get tased! Mr. Brooks emerges from the struggle with a taser! Mr. Rolfe! Hey, hands off the fucking taser! Hands off the taser! Stop fighting! Hands off the taser!

Mr. Brooks emerges from the struggle with a taser in his hand. He stands up, punches Officer Rolfe, Stop fighting! and immediately sprints off through the parking lot. He's got my fucking taser! Officer Rolfe fires his own taser at Mr. Brooks and gives chase. Ah! That's 63. Security camera footage then shows Mr. Brooks in full stride, turning his body and raising

his arm with the taser and firing toward Officer Rolfe. And it's that moment when he's both running away and turning his body and pointing his hand with the taser toward the police officer, that the police officer, in just like a micro second, it feels like, pulls out his handgun and fires three shots. And then you see Mr. Brooks falling onto the pavement. Come on, man. Hold on. You're fucked up, bro. What the fuck?

Bystanders react with shock and anger. That's totally unnecessary. Man, that's messed up, man. That's fucking unnecessary. Watch these fucking pigs harass him for 20 fucking minutes for no reason. And then you fucking shoot him? The fuck? Fucking pigs, dude.

Every fucking time. Fuck. Fuck. Good afternoon, everyone. I am joined... On Saturday before sundown, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms went on television. For the third time in just two weeks, I have spent the better part of a day reviewing video footage involving allegations of excessive use by members of the Atlanta Police Department. excessive use by members of the Atlanta Police Department. Tragically, the most recent incident involved the fatal shooting of a 27-year-old man, Rayshard Brooks. And she announced that the police chief for the Atlanta Police Department, Erica Shields. Chief Shields has offered to immediately step aside as police chief. Had decided to step down from her role.

And the mayor said, look, while there may be debate as to whether this was an appropriate use of deadly force, let me be clear, I firmly believe that there is a clear distinction between what you can do and what you should do. There's a difference between what you as a police officer can do and what you should do. There's a difference between what you as a police officer can do and what you should do. I do not believe that this was a justified use of deadly force and have called for the immediate termination of the officer. I do hope that you will find some comfort in the swift actions that have been taken today and the meaningful reforms that our city will implement on behalf of the countless

men and women who have lost their lives across this country. We'll be right back. about the police practices that resulted in his death, this encounter that seemed to begin so calmly and turned fatal so fast? Well, you have this moment that unfolds in really two chunks, and I think it's a good way to think about it. You have everything that led up to the moment when Rayshard Brooks was about to be put in handcuffs and when he makes the decision to resist arrest. And then you have this much more fraught and much more complex and tragic moment that came after it.

Okay. Chief Serpas, we're recording. Yes, sir. Chief, tell me, what are you up to these days? I spoke with a former New Orleans police chief, Ronald Serpas. What was your analysis of the incident in Atlanta from what you've seen? Well, I think that the information I have seen is limited. Like much of the nation, there may be many videos we just haven't seen yet. We don't know what statements may or may not be forthcoming from witnesses. And Ronald didn't want to talk about the specifics of the case.

He didn't really want to pass judgment this soon after the shooting. ask you whether you thought this was a justified shoot or can you address that to me? No, it's way too soon. And he made the point that cases like this, you know, to really fully digest whether or not they were done correctly, require a lot of time to really pull all the details together. And let me say this, because this might help make that not just a dodge. Sure. I've overseen the investigations of police use of deadly force from 1990 to 2014. And, you know, error, which results in

someone being able to overturn their conviction because you made an error as an investigator because you were moving too fast. Don't you want the best possible case created? And of course, there are people who would push back on that pretty hard and would say, this is pretty open and shut. We have it on video. A man was shot in the back. There's a moment before they take him in where it's pretty well established that he's been drinking quite a bit. But he says, look, I can just walk home. Can you just let me walk home and get my car later or something to this effect? home and then, you know, I can get my car later or something to this effect. And it raised a really interesting question about when the police should make an arrest. Well, according to national data, about 30 people a day die in drunk driving crashes or about one person every 50 minutes.

What would happen if you let the person go and they just simply came back and got their car after you left? So the idea of just letting someone go off could in fact be really dangerous. There are some people I was talking to today who were talking about the possibility that it could open police to litigation if there's some kind of bad act that follows when they just say, okay, go home, you know, sober up. So in Tennessee, for example, if you are in a vehicle, the presumption is you either drove their drunk or you're going to drive away from their drunk. So it depends on each of the states. Chief Serpers told me that in some states, they require officers to make an arrest. I think that many police officers exercise discretion when they can,

but as you go up the threat level of behavior, drunk driving, fighting with weapons, shootings, discretion becomes less of a choice because there's other risks involved. I did talk to people, and certainly there are a number of people who think that one way that this incident could have been de-escalated would have been to just let him go and that perhaps this was the passionate move. There is a legitimate balancing here of objectives and of goals, but there's no question that this is not an easy cut and dried kind of answer, even if you have some leeway, given just real life consequences of making a decision like that. Okay, so that explains how we get to this moment where the police are preparing to handcuff Rayshard Brooks. What did the people that you spoke with, these experts, say about what seems harder to understand in terms of what happens next and what would explain ultimately the officer shooting and killing Brooks? Can we talk a little bit about the limits

of de-escalation? The reason I frame the question that way is that it's really remarkable how civil the conversation is among these three men in the parking lot. And as a layperson, my thought was, well, this looks to me to be what we would expect of our officers. And yet the thing still goes off the rails. Are there limits to what de-escalation efforts can achieve? So I think you raise a good question, and it is really on the tip of the needle, is that even in de-escalating circumstances, the police, if they're not the instigator, are going to respond to what someone else did. respond to what someone else did. In a case that we're making up a hypothetical, the two police officers are talking to someone and they clearly have not crossed the line of unprofessional behavior. They're actually practicing de-escalation by talking people slowly down, saying, look, we don't have to go further than this. Let's just take this one step at a time.

And the person, for reason unknown to you and I suddenly attacks the officer or someone else, then that is a human response that you always, you can't control every human response. If the police are following the rules and if they are treating people with dignity and respect, that still doesn't change an unexpected human behavior of instant violence. It still doesn't change. So when Mr. Brooks resists arrest, it's not just that he's running away. You have this violent struggle that happens on the ground. And in that struggle, he has stolen one of their weapons, a non-lethal weapon, a taser. Then he runs away. And then you have Mr. Brooks actually firing the taser in the direction of the police officer.

And there's a legal argument to be made, a potential legal argument, that if you could have tased the officer and incapacitated him, and if the man who did the tasing has already shown that he has a propensity to steal weapons from officers, which he certainly had just done, then perhaps he gets a hold of the service weapon, the handgun, and he puts the officer in a deadly situation. In general terms, that's why police do spend a lot of time learning defensive measures. You have to spend time training officers so that they have enough confidence in themselves to not overreact, even when they're in the middle of a fight, potentially for their life, so that it does deescalate eventually and the person is under control. But people are people.

and the person is under control. But people are people. When you think your life is about to be taken from you, whether you're a police officer or a citizen, that is a moment in time that very few people actually experience. So that's the kind of the argument in favor of shooting. The argument against is really pretty simple. Here's a man who is not running toward you. He's obviously running away and his goal is to get away. And is it really something worth killing a man over? Okay. Professor Toure, it's a real pleasure to talk to you again, professor. Thanks for taking a moment. Have you had a chance to look at these tapes? So I talked to Kalfani Touré from Quinnipiac University.

Unfortunately, I've sort of viewed that tape, I would say more than three dozen times. Because this is a tough situation. The shooting itself was awful, but it was

awful. Because they did not exhaust the other possibilities. Why not keep saying that you can call for backup officers and let them know where do you need your backup to arrive? He's running down Peachtree Street. He's on University Drive. University Drive. Professor Touré, who's been a police officer in Georgia, looks at this from a legal standpoint and he says, well, maybe the police officer has an argument that he shouldn't be found guilty of murder. And I want to be clear to say that I'm not saying

that this action was illegal. In fact, I'm going to say something here, make the charge that if the prosecutor, Paul Howard, decides to charge him, I would be surprised if he has a conviction. There's a lot of measures to protect officers when they have to make split-second decisions like this. But you also have this question about training and culture and the very fundamental idea of policing. This split in the way people think about the role of

police and the goals of police is sometimes expressed as a warrior mindset versus the guardian mindset. Can you explain that? Yeah. So it generally comes down to, you know, this idea that you're going out in the streets to do battle every day against this really frightening foe. You are socialized and professionalized to see yourself as part of this insular, isolated, detached community of warriors. And you are facing enemy combatants i mean that's a weird way to police if you're trained as a warrior cop in a very racist society and again it doesn't mean that the officers are racist in the traditional sense uh but racism racism is systemic it It's structural.

It's institutionalizing the culture by way of what the command staff and what the unions do with police departments. But if you see people as enemy combatants, particularly African Americans, then you're more reliant on a use of force

or lethal force or the escalation of force than you are with alternative options. On the other end of the spectrum is a guardian model, which would look at the people you're policing as the people who pay your taxes and the people that you're supposed to be looking out for. You know, I'm thinking about some of the people who are adding commentary about the incident and they say, well, hey, you have to understand, you know, that can happen to a police officer in a fraction of a second. And they're right.

That shouldn't be the reason why we resort to lethal force. It shouldn't be the reason why we abrogate people's humanity. It shouldn't be the reason why we deny due process. I really want you to appreciate this. There were options for both of those officers. And of course, none of this is really addressing what many activists and protesters are really

calling for right now, which is a total rethinking and overhauling of policing. Essentially, imagining an entirely new universe of public safety. And in that new universe, potentially, no one with a gun would have shown up at this scene in the first place. Maybe it would have been a social worker who specializes in alcohol. Maybe Rayshard Brooks would have been sent home. Maybe they would have towed his car. Maybe they would have revoked his license.

But in this scenario, maybe there's no threat of jail. Maybe there's no officer with a gun. And therefore, this man asleep in his car doesn't end up dying. Well, that sentiment has become so powerful in this country. And people are saying it in different kinds of ways right now but i think a case like this really points to the hard work that would actually have to be done to engineer a viable alternative that would tick those boxes Richard, thank you very much. Thank you, Mike.

On Wednesday, Garrett Wolfe, the officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks, was formally charged on 11 counts, including murder and aggravated assault. In a press conference announcing the decision, the Fulton County District Attorney said that Brooks, quote, never presented himself as a threat. If convicted of murder, Rolf could face life in prison or the death penalty. Devin Brosnan, the other officer at the scene, was charged with three lesser counts and is cooperating with prosecutors. We'll be right back. We'll be right back.

Here's what else you need to nerdy. I've just concluded a meeting with incredible families, just incredible families that have been through so much. The families of Ahmaud Arbery, Botham Jean, Antoine Rose, Jamel Robertson, Adiana Jefferson,

Michael Dean, Darius Tarver, Cameron Lamb, and Everett Palmer. During a ceremony at the White House on Tuesday, President Trump signed an executive order encouraging changes to U.S. policing, including new restrictions on chokeholds and the establishment of a national database to track police misconduct. And it's so sad.

Many of these families lost their loved ones in deadly interactions with police. To all of the hurting families, I want you to know that all Americans mourn by your side. But the order, which will offer financial incentives to local departments that comply with the proposals, will have little immediate impact and does not address protesters' calls for a broader overhaul of U.S. policing. And three states, Arizona, Florida, and Texas, recorded their largest one-day increases in coronavirus infections, with each state reporting more than 2,000 new cases on Tuesday.

The spike in infections comes as all three states increased testing and relaxed social distancing measures, but none of the states appears ready to slow their reopening process as a result of the growing infections. That's it for The Daily. I'm Michael Bavaro. See you tomorrow.