The Executive Director of The Peace Officers' Association, Georgia, has accused Fulton District Attorney Paul Howard of setting up the city of Atlanta for another riot by bringing severe charges against the cop who shot dead Rayshard Brooks that will never stand up in court, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Former officer Garrett Rolfe, 27, turned himself in around 3pm on Thursday after Howard took the unprecedented step of issuing arrest warrants for Rolfe and officer Devin Brosnan before any indictments were brought. Brosnan, 26, turned himself in around 11:30am.
Rolfe has been charged on 11 counts, the first of which is felony murder - a crime that carries a penalty of life without parole or the death sentence in Georgia.
Brosnan has been charged on three counts, including aggravated assault for allegedly putting his feet on the dying man's shoulders, and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
But now, in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, POA Executive Director John Edwards has slammed the DA for jumping ahead of the GBI's ongoing investigation and bringing charges that, he believes, owe more to the 'politics and flavor of the day,' than an objective decision based on the totality of the facts.
He said: 'No use of force is ever pretty, and the courts don't judge use of force on whether it's right or wrong. They judge it on whether it was reasonable. It's complex, it's contextual and it takes time for investigators to see through all the witnesses, all the evidence, all the totality of the facts and circumstances.
'And then they have to be objective – not feeling before thinking – when they are making a decision that affects so many people's lives. That has to be based on evidence not the politics or the flavor of the day.'
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