Rayshard Brooks didn’t deserve to die, but he made a grave mistake in his flight or survival mode.
Never point a gun at police, whether it be real or fake. I know it happens so fast, and he was under the influence, but you can’t expect to take a weapon from the police after whipping them on camera and expect them to give up in the heat of the moment.
Last February, Brooks participated in an interview done by Reconnect as a part of a project that speaks with individuals on probation or parole about their encounters with the criminal justice system.
In the video below, Brooks comes off as someone that wants to be smart, but he also had his demons he was trying to contend with. It’s nice to see these videos to remind people of the humanity in those killed. He wasn’t an animal. Cops need to exhaust every possible means before killing a human being period.
Could the police have let him go? Sure. They had the car he was driving in. They had his license plate. They had him on bodycam. They would have gotten him eventually without killing him, but again, the moment that everyone was involved in dictated the outcome we saw happens that evening.
This piece was written by Wayne Dupree on June 18, 2020. It originally appeared in WayneDupree.com and is used by permission.
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