Felony murder charges against former Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe in the death of Rayshard Brooks are "outrageous," former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Thursday, declaring that the shooting happened while police were doing their job trying to arrest him.
"I can't figure out what the felony is that the police officer was committing, and therefore he committed murder in the commission of the felony," Giuliani, a former U.S. Attorney who now serves as President Donald Trump's attorney, said on Fox Business' "Mornings With Maria." "The police officer was trying to execute a quite lawful arrest and it was quite calm until Mr. Rayshard Brooks became violent."
When Rolfe shot him, Brooks was holding a stun gun he had taken from police, but he was 18 feet and 3 inches away and was running away at the time. Rolfe could face either life in prison without parole or the death penalty if convicted, and he also faces 10 other offenses that could put him in prison for decades.
But Giuliani said Thursday that he could count "five crimes" Brooks committed, including punishing a police officer and resisting arrest.
"This man was a violent criminal," said Giuliani. "[If] this man had just submitted to arrest, none of this would have happened. It's not the police officer's fault. It's his fault."
He added that it is a "turning point" for the country that Rolfe has been charged.
"If you're going to try this man for felony murder, when he didn't do it because there's a tone in the country, are we really a democracy?" asked Giuliani. "Or are we some kind of a mob-ruled society that only has emotions and no logic or fairness?"
He said he can see why former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin would be charged in the death of George Floyd, but in the Brooks case, "I'm also capable enough and fair enough to look at this and say this was completely caused by the perpetrator."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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