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The ex-Atlanta police officer who faces felony murder charges related to the death of Rayshard Brooks fired his gun three times at a Black suspect during a 2015 car chase, footage reveals.
Garrett Rolfe, the ex-officer, and two others had tried to apprehend Jackie Jermaine Harris, who was driving a stolen vehicle, according to the incident report.
During the exchange, Harris had struck a gas meter and then rammed a police cruiser after putting his truck into reverse, the report stated.
Rolfe can be heard saying that he "shot like three times" at Harris, CNN reported.
Minutes later, Rolfe said, "that second time he came at us I know I hit him like three times."
Pictures taken at the crime scene reveal Harris' truck partially atop a police cruiser, with blood in the interior and gunshot holes in the truck windows and windshield.
According to the investigator supplement report released to CNN by the Fulton County Public Defender's Office, which also provided footage of the incident, Rolfe's gun had been discharged three times. The other two officers on the scene had each discharged their firearm once.
Harris had pleaded guilty to several charges including theft and fleeing arrest, according to court records. He received probation.
But Harris, who said he was shot in the back, has maintained that there was a coverup in the shooting because it was not mentioned on any of his arrest reports.
The police incident report mentions only that Harris was brought to the hospital for "injuries during the incident," according to CNN.
"I was shot at numerous times, and struck once in the back by an Atlanta Police Officer. I had no weapon and didn't try in any way to cause harm to the officer," Harris wrote in a 2016 letter from jail sent to Judge Doris Downs. "This Atlanta Police Officer used unjustifiable lethal force against me. I also feel that the Atlanta Police Department is trying to cover up their wrongdoing. Nowhere in the police report does it say anything about my being shot or the lethal force that was used against me."
In an email to CNN, Downs said she had referred the incident to multiple agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
The Atlanta Police Department is still investigating the incident, which occurred nearly five years ago.
Representatives from the department did not respond to Newsweek's request for comment in time for publication.
According to the dash camera footage taken during the incident, Rolfe had been worried he would face charges after firing his weapon at Harris.
"You know how the media is," Rolfe had said.
He can later be heard saying, "with the atmosphere they are going to charge us [expletive], the way [Fulton County DA] Paul Howard is."
Howard announced in February 2020 that his office would not pursue criminal charges against Rolfe or the other two officers involved in the incident.
"We have determined that there was no criminal conduct related to the actions of the above-named officer(s)," according to a letter Howard sent to then-Atlanta Police Chief Erica Shields, obtained by CNN.
Rolfe currently faces several charges, including felony murder, relating to the June 12 incident where Brooks was shot.
Brooks was sleeping in his car outside an Atlanta Wendy's restaurant when officers were called to the scene, igniting another wave of Black Lives Matter protests around the world against police brutality and systemic racism.
