Originally Published: 23 AUG 22 10:32 ET

Updated: 23 AUG 22 15:33 ET

By Eric Levenson, Jamiel Lynch and Nouran Salahieh, CNN

(CNN) -- A Georgia special prosecutor announced Tuesday that murder and assault charges will be dismissed against two Atlanta police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks in June 2020, saying the officers acted reasonably in response to a deadly threat.

"Both acted as reasonable officers would under the facts and circumstances of the events of that night," special prosecutor Peter Skandalakis said. "Both acted in accordance with well-established law and were justified in the use of force regarding the situation."

Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man, was shot and killed outside a Wendy's restaurant after he failed a sobriety test and fought two officers who tried to arrest him. During the struggle, Brooks overpowered officers Garrett Rolfe and Devin Brosnan, took a Taser from Brosnan and ran away, according to prosecutors. While fleeing, he turned back and fired the stolen Taser at Rolfe, who then shot Brooks twice, in the back and buttocks, killing him, prosecutors said.

The incident was extensively captured on video, including body-cam footage, Wendy's surveillance video and witness cellphone video.

Former Gwinnett County District Attorney Daniel Porter provided video analysis in the press conference Tuesday. He explained Georgia officers are allowed to use deadly force when faced with a deadly weapon, including a Taser, so prosecutors determined the shooting was legal.

"Was it objectively reasonable that (Rolfe) can use deadly force? We determined it was," Skandalakis said.

The fatal shooting of Brooks -- less than three weeks after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis -- sparked protests across Atlanta and beyond amid national demonstrations over police brutality and racial injustice. In Atlanta, the Wendy's restaurant was set ablaze, hundreds blocked a major interstate, authorities fired tear gas and the police chief stepped down.

Five days after the shooting, then-Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced charges against Rolfe of felony murder, aggravated assault, violations of oath of office and criminal damage to property. Brosnan was charged with aggravated assault and violating his oath.

Howard lost his re-election bid and the case ultimately wound up in the hands of Skandalakis, who on Tuesday said he plans to file an administrative dismissal to drop the charges.

Skandalakis said he did not believe the shooting was racially motivated and contrasted it with the killings of Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man killed by armed residents in Georgia in 2020.

"This was not that type of case. This was not an Ahmaud Arbery who was being chased by armed citizens. This was not a George Floyd who was on the ground with an officer kneeling on his neck," Skandalakis said. "This is not that case. These facts are distinguishable and distinct from what happened in those two situations."

Attorneys for Rolfe and Brosnan have defended their actions that night. CNN has reached out to attorneys for Brooks' estate and to attorneys for Brosnan and Rolfe for comment.

Both officers remain on administrative leave with the Atlanta Police Department and will undergo recertification and training, the department said in a statement.

"We have faith in the criminal justice system, and we respect the special prosecutor's decision in this case," the department said.

Initial prosecutor faced accusations of acting for political benefit

The initial charges against Rolfe and Brosnan came before the Georgia Bureau of Investigation completed its investigation and led to accusations that Howard -- who had an ongoing campaign for another term in office -- acted for political benefit.

At the time, Howard called the accusations "ridiculous" and said the case would be his office's 40th case charging a police officer, nine of which involved the death of someone by police.

The charges were followed by days in which a large number of Atlanta officers called out sick from work.

Howard, who campaigned on the charges in the Brooks case, lost the district attorney election to Fani Willis, who then was recused from prosecuting the case. In July 2021, State Attorney General Chris Carr appointed Skandalakis, the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia, to oversee the case.

"I and my agency will conduct a thorough review of the facts and circumstances surrounding this case and, as with any case that comes before us, we will proceed where the evidence leads us," Skandalakis said at the time.

Rolfe's attorneys have previously maintained the cop was legally justified and acted in self-defense when he shot and killed Brooks. In May 2021, the Atlanta Civil Service Board ruled that Rolfe was wrongly terminated and reinstated him. The APD at the time said the board's decision said the firing process was "not done in accordance with the Atlanta City Code" and Rolfe would remain on administrative leave until the criminal charges against him were resolved.

How the shooting unfolded

The day Brooks was shot, police were responding to the Wendy's following reports that a man was asleep in his vehicle in the drive-thru, according to the GBI.

When Brosnan arrived, Brooks was apparently asleep behind the wheel, and Brosnan knocked on the window to wake him up. Brosnan later asked him whether he'd been drinking. Brooks told the officer he had only one drink, body-worn camera shows.

A few minutes later, Rolfe arrived on the scene and used a Breathalyzer on Brooks. As Rolfe attempted to handcuff Brooks, a struggle ensued.

Brooks struggled with the officers and grabbed Brosnan's Taser, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Another video filmed by a bystander begins shortly after the struggle started and shows Brooks getting a hold of the Taser and breaking free.

As Brooks ran from the officers, he turned back and appears to point the Taser at Rolfe, who unholstered his handgun and fired, shooting Brooks twice. Prosecutors on Tuesday said that a video analysis determined Brooks fired the Taser at Rolfe, who fired his handgun 1.1 seconds later.

Part of the question about the legality of the shooting was based on the potential lethality of the Taser.

The Atlanta police policy manual says that an officer can use deadly force when, "He or she reasonably believes that the suspect possesses a deadly weapon or any object, device, or instrument which, when used offensively against a person, is likely to or actually does result in serious bodily injury and when he or she reasonably believes that the suspect poses an immediate threat of serious bodily injury to the officer or others."

The Taser is designed to be less lethal than a firearm, but it can be fatal in some circumstances. Amnesty International said that more than 500 people have died in the US "after being shocked with a Taser either during their arrest or while in jail," according to a CNN story in 2015. Although Taser, the company, said the tally of deaths directly attributed to Taser is more like 60.