In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Ben Carson, Housing and Urban Development Secretary, shared some comments about the the police shooting of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta. He compared Brooks arrest to George Floyd, and the comments have brought Carson both praise and disgust from the court of public opinion.
In the "Fox News Sunday" interview, Carson was asked about whether it was appropriate to use deadly force on Brooks, who had fallen asleep in a downtown Atlanta Wendy’s drive-thru. Brooks, 27, was a father of three girls. He was suspected of driving under the influence, and when officers attempted to arrest him, a scuffle ensued. It ended with Brooks running off with a taser and an Atlanta police officer fatally shooting Brooks in the back.
Carson said there was no question about the “callous murder that occurred in Minnesota.” In the Atlanta case, Carson said he wasn’t sure what the police officers were thinking once Brooks had the taser in his hand.
"We don't know what was in the mind of the officer when someone turns around and points a weapon at him. Is he absolutely sure that's a non-lethal weapon? This is not a clear-cut circumstance,” Carson told the program’s host Chris Wallace.
He expounds on the matter by stating that there may have been better ways to handle Brooks’ arrest.
“ Could have it been handled better? Certainly in retrospect, there probably are other ways to do things,” Carson said. “Again, we don’t know. We the public don’t know. Is there a reason they don’t use night sticks? There are qualified officers that would know the answer to that.”
Some supported Carson in making the distinction between Floyd and Brooks death.
Others who responded to the interview on Twitter Sunday said that what should’ve been clear is that shooting Brooks in the back was not a “reasonable use of force.”
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