Rayshard Brooks police shooting was homicide, says medical examiner

[Omaha Steve]

Source: The Guardian

Black man, 27, died of blood loss and organ injuries from two shots to the back, autopsy finds

The death of Rayshard Brooks, a black man killed by a white police officer in Atlanta on Friday, was a homicide caused by gunshot wounds to the back, the Fulton county medical examiner’s office has said, as the US headed into a fourth week of unrest over police violence.

An autopsy conducted on Sunday showed that Brooks, 27, died from blood loss and organ injuries caused by two gunshot wounds, an investigator for the medical examiner said in a statement. The manner of his death was homicide, the statement said.

Brooks’s death reignited protests in Atlanta after days of worldwide demonstrations against racism and police brutality prompted by the death of George Floyd, an African American, in police custody in Minneapolis on 25 May.

On Sunday night riot police gathered at a police precinct a few miles from the scene of his killing after reports of threats to burn down a Wendy’s restaurant. They were followed by hundreds of protesters, a handful arriving with cases of water. A chant of “This is not a riot!” went up and one man told police he expected they were there with the “same peaceful intentions” as protesters.


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/15/rayshard-brooks-police-shooting-was-homicide-says-medical-examiner

[captain queeg]

1. Obviously, homicide is just one person killing another.

Whether there is any justification will be the issue. Pretty hard not to say the officers bullets killed him.

[madville]

3. Exactly

I think they will charge the officer with something in order to calm things down but a conviction seems unlikely in this particular case, the jury would likely be deadlocked and unable to reach a verdict.

[Miguelito Loveless]

4. I thought he was supposed to have been pointing a taser

(a weapon the police CONSTANTLY tell us is "non-lethal&quot at them, so that's why they shot him? Two bullets in the back means he was running away, so yet again, the police were lying. The police lie as reflexively as Trump.

[madville]

5. He was pointing the taser backwards at the cop chasing him

So yes he was running away at the same time he was pointing the taser. Also, at the time he was running away, he was now fleeing after having committed a couple of violent felonies.

Should he have been shot? Absolutely not

Was the officer justified in shooting him? Probably in this particular scenario but that doesn't make it right at all, he could have let him run and then tracked him down once back up and a K-9 unit arrived.

[Miguelito Loveless]

13. Was the officer justified in shooting him?

No, he was not. Morally, ethically, or realistically. He might have been "legally" justified, but those with power and money can legally justify anything.

[LiberalLovinLug]

17. " Was the officer justified in shooting him? Probably in this particular scenario"

I disagree. There was no physical threat to him. Also, he didn't seem to even give any warning like "stop or I will shoot". He just reacted emotionally, pulled his revolver out and shot. (At this black man who dared to fire a taser in my direction and is going to get away)

[forgotmylogin]

19. Violent felonies?

He was asleep in his car in a drive-thru after drinking?

[madville]

20. Assaulting a police officer and

Obstruction of an officer with violence are both felonies in Georgia.

[forgotmylogin]

21. Oh right, after it escalated. Gotcha. n/t

[Baclava]

9. True, homicide doesnt mean murder, justifiable homicide could be self defense, legal talk

[PoliticAverse]

2. "Homicide. The killing of one human being by another human being."

(From: https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/homicide )

[elleng]

6. 'the deliberate and unlawful killing of one person by another'

4 Types of Homicide Charges
Capital Murder.
Manslaughter.
Criminally Negligent Homicide.
Murder.

[cstanleytech]

8. I would go with manslaughter as the most likely to win a conviction but I would also tack on

an assault charge.

[sl8]

10. What are you quoting?

Are you suggesting that as a definition for homicide, or?

[elleng]

11. https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/homicide

[sl8]

12. Thanks. I believe that is incorrect, or, at best, incomplete.

Legally, not all homicides are unlawful.

On edit, from https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/homicide :

Homicide

Homicide is when one human being causes the death of another. Not all homicide is murder, as some killings are manslaughter, and some are lawful, such as when justified by an affirmative defense, like insanity or self-defense.

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. Odd - lexico.com (ie the Oxford English Dictionary) gives 2 definitions

both are marked "North American"; the one you give appears under the "US English" dictionary. The one under the "UK English" dictionary, with URL https://www.lexico.com/definition/homicide (the "/en" has been removed) says

"North American The killing of one person by another."

Both use the same example sentences, including
‘The distinction between justifiable and unjustifiable homicide was not identical to our own.’
and
‘The offence of manslaughter generally covers all unlawful homicides which are not murder.’
which imply that not all homicides are unlawful.

[cstanleytech]

7. Every death due to another person is a homicide technically.

The real question is was actions of the officer warranted? In my opinion they were not and thus the officer should be held accountable in a court of law.

[eringer]

14. Terrible Tragedy Facilitated by the GOP and the NRA

If cops had guns that only they can fire, this would have never happened. The NRA AND THE GOP SHOULD BE CHARGED WITH THIS MURDER.

[cayugafalls]

16. Mr. Brooks had already fired the taser and turned around. It happened fast.

There was no reason to fire his gun. Mr Brooks had already discharged the taser and it missed.

I watched the entire bodycam video and other videos multiple times. The taser had been discharged before the police officer shot.

The police officer shot as a response to the taser missing him. It is on the video when he describes what happened.

He shot Mr. Brooks due to adrenaline, a sense of panic and a response to the taser discharge. If you have your weapon drawn and are aiming down on a suspect while running, it does not take much pressure at all on the trigger to discharge the weapon.

I think a case could be made for manslaughter.

Of course, I have no say in all this so...there ya go.

[Calista241]

22. There is no chance he's convicted of anything.

The cop was involved in an altercation with the subject, that Brooks started. The suspect took a weapon from a police officer and was evading arrest. Brooks discharged the weapon, and the cop can say he feared for his life and of the public were Brooks to escape.

Remember, we’re examine all this information frame by frame from at least 3 different camera angles. Decisions in real life don’t happen like that. The cop had maybe 1 second to make a decision, and in the previous 10 seconds, he’d been assaulted by Brooks, had his weapon stolen, and now Brooks is armed and fleeing towards the road where literally anything could happen.

DA’s and the Mayor are saying what they need to for political reasons, but this cop never spends any time in jail because of this.

What’s really a shame is that Brooks would have gotten out of jail a few hours later for DUI. At a minimum, he turned his arrest into life in prison, and the worst case was he got shot.

[Nitram]

18. "Homicide" only means a person was killed. It doesn't assign guilt, motive, or any other judgement.