Trump Weighs In on Rayshard Brooks Shooting

'You can't resist a police officer'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 18, 2020 4:46 AM CDT
Trump on Shooting: 'You Can't Resist a Police Officer'
This undated photo provided by the Atlanta Police Department shows Officer Garrett Rolfe.   (Atlanta Police Department via AP)

President Trump—unlike prosecutors—appears to believe that the police shooting of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta may have been justified. In remarks to Sean Hannity on Fox News Wednesday night, the president said it was a "terrible situation" but added that "you can't resist a police officer," the Hill reports. Trump said police in the US "have not been treated fairly" and he hopes Garrett Rolfe, the officer facing felony murder and 10 other charges, "gets a fair shake." Brooks, who was holding a Taser he had grabbed from officers during a struggle, was shot in the back from 18 feet away, prosecutors say. Rolfe kicked Brooks when he was on the ground and did not offer medical treatment, according to prosecutors.

Trump told Hannity he had heard a "very interesting report" that Rolfe heard a sound like a gunshot during the incident. "I don’t know that I would have necessarily believed that, but I will tell you, that’s a very interesting thing and maybe that’s so," Trump said, per the Guardian. "They are going to have to find out. It’s up to justice right now. It’s going to be up to justice. I hope he gets a fair shake because police have not been treated fairly in our country. They have not been treated fairly." He added: "But, again, you can’t resist a police officer like that. And they ended up in a very terrible disagreement and look at the way it ended. Very bad. Very bad." (More Rayshard Brooks stories.)

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