Georgia Bureau Of Investigation Responds To D.A.’s Charges: We Weren’t Consulted, Investigation Not Over

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation responded to Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard’s press conference on Wednesday — in which he announced criminal charges against the two officers who were involved in the recent incident involving the death of Rayshard Brooks — by stating that they were not notified that it was going to happen and that the investigation was not over.

“The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was requested by the Atlanta Police Department on Friday night, June 12th, to investigate an officer involved shooting at the Wendy’s Restaurant on University Avenue. We are in the process of conducting this investigation,” the bureau said in a statement. “Although we have made significant progress in the case, we have not completed our work. Our goal in every officer involved shooting case we are requested to review, is to complete a thorough, impartial investigation before we submit the file to the respective District Attorney’s Office.”

“The GBI was not aware of today’s press conference before it was conducted,” the statement continued. “We were not consulted on the charges filed by the District Attorney. Despite today’s occurrence, the GBI will complete its mission of completing an impartial and thorough investigation of this incident and we will submit the file, once completed, to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.”

GBI’s statement regarding Howard’s decision to announce charges against the two officers comes as Howard is facing an election runoff, is reportedly under criminal investigation, and has been repeatedly accused of sexual harassment. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in early May:

The GBI has opened an investigation of Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard and his use of a nonprofit to funnel at least $140,000 in city of Atlanta funds to supplement his salary, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News have learned.

The criminal investigation comes at a time when Howard, Fulton’s DA since 1997, is being challenged in the Democratic primary for reelection and is facing allegations of sexual harassment, which he strongly denies. […]

Howard is also facing a state ethics complaint for not disclosing he was a chief executive of the nonprofit, People Partnering for Progress, in personal financial statements. On April 15, the Georgia Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission charged Howard with a dozen disclosure violations, most of them involving PPP.

Howard announced during a press conference on Wednesday that Officer Garrett Rolfe was facing 11 charges, including felony murder, for his alleged involvement in the death of Brooks. Howard also announced that the other police officer on scene, Devin Brosnan, was facing three charges, including aggravated assault and violation of oath.

Howard said, “We have concluded at the time Mr. Brooks was shot that he did not pose an immediate threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or officers.” Howard later acknowledged that as Brooks was resisting arrest and running from the police that he took a taser from one of the officers and fired it at Rolfe.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Howard announced charges against a police officer who pointed a taser at a person because a taser was considered to be a deadly weapon under Georgia law.