By Rich McKay and Frank McGurty

ATLANTA (Reuters) -A special prosecutor will not pursue criminal charges against a white Atlanta police officer who fatally shot a Black man outside a fast-food restaurant in 2020, saying on Tuesday that the use of deadly force was justified.

Officer Garrett Rolfe shot Rayshard Brooks after the 27-year-old suspect resisted an attempt by police to arrest him and started to run away. He had taken a Taser from a second officer, Devin Brosnan, and fired the device at both.

Peter Skandalakis, a special prosecutor appointed to review the case, said Rolfe was justified in shooting Brooks because the Taser could be considered a deadly weapon in such circumstances and the suspect was threatening the officers with serious bodily harm.

“Based on the facts and circumstances confronting Officer Rolfe and Officer Brosnan in this case, it’s my conclusion that the use of deadly force was objectively reasonable and that they did not act with criminal intent,” Daniel Porter, a former Gwinnett County district attorney who took part in the review, said during a presentation of the finding.

The decision, which will lead to the dismissal of all charges against Rolfe and Brosnan, drew criticism from a local civil rights leader, who said a grand jury should have decided.

The Brooks family was “heartbroken, confused, but not angry” and planned to bring the case to civil court, its attorneys said at a press conference.

“The key thing is that they decided to use lethal force as the man was running away,” said Justin Miller, one of the lawyers.

The shooting, which took place about two weeks after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, exacerbated outrage over law enforcement’s use of force against people of color. During the days of protests that followed, the Wendy’s restaurant where Brooks was shot was burned to the ground.

Days after the shooting, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard charged Rolfe with felony murder, aggravated assault and other crimes. Brosnan was charged with aggravated assault and violation of oath.

The decision to charge them before the Georgia Bureau of Investigation completed its investigation led to accusations that Howard, who was up for re-election, was acting out of political expedience.

Howard was eventually defeated at the polls and his successor was recused from the case, leading to the appointment of Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, to review the evidence.

RACIAL QUESTION

At the briefing, Skandalakis said he did not believe the shooting was racially motivated and said the case differed in many ways from the killing in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a Black man who died when his neck was pinned to the ground for nine minutes by a white officer.

After the announcement, Gerald Griggs, president of the Georgia NAACP, said prosecutors should have presented the case to an impartial grand jury. “Race is absolutely a part of it,” he said. “The city was in turmoil when this happened and we still want answers.”

The Atlanta confrontation unfolded when the two officers responded to complaints that Brooks had fallen asleep behind the wheel in the drive-through lane of the restaurant. The officers determined Brooks was driving under the influence of alcohol.

A physical altercation ensued with the officers attempted to arrest him. Brooks was able to wrest away the Taser and fired it at the officers as he fled, defying their orders to stop. Rolfe then shot Brooks twice in the back.

“In this case, you must remember that here we have a peaceful encounter, that all of a sudden becomes a violent encounter,” Skandalakis said. “When Brooks takes the Taser, he now becomes basically a person with an offensive position. He can incapacitate the officers.”

Rolfe had been dismissed from the force days after the shooting by then-Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, but a year later, he was reinstated and put on administrative leave after an Atlanta Civil Service Board ruling. Brosnan was placed on administrative leave after the incident.

Lance LoRusso, one of the attorneys for the officers, said both men were relieved. “More than two years after the incident that resulted in Rayshard Brooks’ death, the State of Georgia has finally made the right decision,” he said in a statement.

(Reporting by Rich McKay; Writing by Frank McGurty; Editing by David Gregorio)

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