The Atlanta police officer who shot Black man Rayshard Brooks in the back as Brooks ran away after a drunk driving stop in a Wendy’s drive through has been reinstated to the city’s police department by a review board, NBC News reports.

Garrett Rolfe will remain on administrative leave and still faces charges of felony murder, five counts of aggravated assault and other charges for killing Brooks after Brooks wrestled Rolfe’s partner’s taser away and wildly fired the taser toward Brooks.  Rolfe fired three shots, two which hit Brooks in the back and one hit a parked car.

The Atlanta Civil Service Board reinstated Rolfe to the Atlanta Police Department after determining Rolfe was fired without adequate due process. 

In June 2020, Rolfe and his partner, Devin Bronson, replied to a call of a car stalled in the drive-through of a Wendy’s fast food restaurant, where they found Brooks asleep behind the wheel.  After a 25 minute conversation and field sobriety test, Bronson attempted to handcuff Brooks without telling him he was arrested or being detained.  A fight ensued, during which Brooks got Bronson’s taser and attempted to flee the scene.  After Brooks fired one shot of the taser from about 20 feet away, Rolfe shot Brooks in the back.  Brooks died later at a hospital.

Happening weeks after the murder of George Floyd by police in Minnesota, the homicide of Brooks caused unrest in Atlanta and other cities.  Rolfe was fired from the police the next day; Bronson, who did not fire his weapon, was put on administrative leave.

“Officer Rolfe was entitled, both as an officer and a citizen, to respond to Rayshard Brooks’ aggravated assault with deadly force,” Lance J. LoRusso, an attorney for Rolfe, said in a press release. “Officer Rolfe continues to look forward to the opportunity to prove that his actions were legally justified.”