Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard told “Cuomo Prime Time” Tuesday that the case against the former Atlanta police officer who shot Rayshard Brooks “has very little to do with a taser.”
Former Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe faces felony murder charges after firing the shots that killed Brooks, who had resisted arrest, fought police, grabbed a taser, ran, then turned around and fired that taser back at Rolfe before getting shot himself.
Howard told CNN host Chris Cuomo that the emphasis of the case should be not on the taser, but rather on why “African Americans continue to get killed by police officers.”
WATCH:
“I think it’s nonsense,” Howard told Cuomo in response to a question about whether or not the taser became a deadly weapon when Brooks fired it at Rolfe. “I think it’s simply a diversion from the real facts. This case has very little to do with a taser, Chris. And I think some of the earlier presentations brought a taser into the whole equation and I don’t think the taser fits in.”
“When Mr. Brooks was shot, he was running away,” he continued. “His back was turned. In fact, Mr. Brooks was some 18 feet three inches away from the police officer at the time the shot was fired. He did not fire the shot at the time that Mr. Brooks used the taser. I think this whole argument about the tasers is way off the track and I’m hoping that people will really get to the really substance of this case and really what I think people should be talking about is why is it in this country that African Americans continue to get killed by police officers?” (RELATED: Jesse Watters: Fulton County DA Engaging In A ‘Political Overcharge,’ Police Will ‘Let The Streets Run Wild’)
Later, Howard continued to insist that the videotape would show Rolfe kicking Brooks while he was down, contradicting the former police officer’s contention that no such action is visible on the tapes.
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