Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund President Jason Johnson says the world was rightly horrified by the video police killing of George Floyd, which was inexcusable, wrong and clearly a crime. He says charges against that officer were completely justified.
But in the case of the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks, Johnson believes the officer acted appropriately and should not have been charged.
While Brooks was completely cooperative with police for 40 minutes and police treated him professionalism and with respect, things changed when Brooks was told he was under arrest and started violently resisting, assaulting, disarming the taser of an officer before trying to take off. At that point, officers felt an imminent threat.
Bottom line, he says while dramatic and difficult to watch, the video doesn't tell the whole story and prosecutors rushed to judgement without a full investigation. Johnson warns every police encounter and use of force must be looked at individually without based on the entirety of the situation and without presumption.