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Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed by police during a confrontation that occurred after he fell asleep in his car in a Wendy’s drive-thru lane. Meghan McCain weighed in on the situation during a segment of The View on June 15. “I think we need to focus on training de-escalation for the police department,” Meghan said. “That seems to be a huge issue here. This case is so sad because he wasn’t armed and he was in his car. He was running away. I hope this doesn’t sound trite, but I’ve certainly been drunk at a Wendy’s before — and I wasn’t shot.
Meghan added that Rayshard was just “trying to do the right thing” by “offering to walk home” when he was shot. She concluded, “I think we need to focus on the specific form of training of de-escalating [for police], instead of militarizing and escalating.” Meghan also compared the situation to Dylan Roof’s arrest after he killed nine people at a historically Black church in South Carolina. At the time, it was reported that Dylan, a white man, was taken to a nearby Burger King for food before going to the police station during his arrest.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is currently investigating Rayshard’s death, which took place on June 12. The 27-year-old’s death occurred while police were investigating a call about him blocking the Wendy’s drive-thru lane because he was sleeping in his car. Amidst his confrontation with officials, Rayshard grabbed one of the officer’s tasers and fled on foot. As the police officers chased him, Rayshard pointed the taser at them, which is when Garrett Rolfe opened fire as Rayshard was running away. He was shot twice in the back and his death was rule a homicide.
Meghan’s co-hosts agreed that police need to be trained to handle situations like this better in the future. Sunny Hostin also pointed out that, even though Rayshard appeared to threaten the cops with the taser, he did not deserve to be killed. “A taser is not a deadly weapon,” Sunny insisted.
Rayshard’s death comes amidst a widespread call against racism and police brutality in the United States. The conversation began after George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, in Minneapolis on May 25.