Dear Mr. Howard:
We the undersigned are students and alumni of the graduate and undergraduate programs of Emory University. Many if not most of us continue to reside in Atlanta, Georgia and all of us have called Atlanta home for at least some time in our lives.
We were saddened and outraged to see the video recording of Officer Garrett Rolfe shooting Rayshard Brooks in the back as he was running in the opposite direction. As you stated yourself in an interview on Sunday, "(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."
While we understand and appreciate the important and frequently dangerous work of law enforcement officials, and we appreciate that Officer Rolfe was fired within 24 hours of the killing, we believe the interests of justice demand that your office bring murder charges against Officer Rolfe so that his actions may be judged by the people of Fulton County.
A partner at the firm representing the family has expressed doubt that your office will levy a murder charge, citing cases in the past that were "a bit clearer" in which no murder charge was brought. What seems clear to us is that the police of your district are not facing consequences to sufficiently deter such action.
In an age where videos emerge with unthinkable regularity in which police kill Black American citizens who do not pose an imminent threat to the officers or anyone else, it is upsetting that these law enforcement officers were unable to approach Mr. Brooks with the necessary humanity to avoid these devastating consequences.
As you said, "it just seems like this is not the kind of conversation and incident that should have led to someone's death."
The calculations that go through the heads of police officers in these situations has to change and it has to change now. We reiterate our call for your office to exercise its prosecutorial discretion and file criminal murder charges against Office Garrett Rolfe for killing Rayshard Brooks.
If it has not done so already, we further call on the Fulton County Police Department to participate in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum "Law Enforcement and Society: Lessons of the Holocaust" training program.
We count on the police to safeguard us from evil. We cannot continue to wonder who will protect us when that evil comes from the officers of the law.
Respectfully,
