“I don't think he should have lost his life for grabbing the Taser gun."Ĭity Council member Robert Gallegos, who also watched the video, said the shooting underscored the need for better mental health services in Houston. “I don't know what was going on in the officers' mind, they could have backed up maybe, but again I was not there,” Davis told Houston Public Media. Houston City Council member Jerry Davis, who acknowledged the officers in the video did act with more restraint than in other shootings he’d seen, nonetheless also agreed with Acevedo’s decision to fire four of the officers involved. “It's difficult to watch without questioning why the shooting happened in the end, and wishing the encounter could have ended differently, and knowing that it should have had a different outcome.” ![]() ![]() “The video is difficult to watch, and I have seen it several times,” Turner said. While reiterating his support for the majority of HPD personnel, Turner said he ultimately agreed with Acevedo in finding the April shooting could not be justified. 10, 2020 press conference.Īn emotional Mayor Sylvester Turner, joining Acevedo at a Thursday afternoon press conference, at times paused to gather himself as he recounted what he watched in the video. Others who have seen the body camera footage agree with the firings.Ĭity of Houston Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo announces the firing of four police officers over the shooting death of Nicolas Chavez, as Mayor Sylvester Turner looks on, at a Sept. This has sent a shockwave though our department, that even if you deescalate, even if you retreat, even if you follow policy, training and the law, you will still lose your job as a Houston police officer." “But the chief is now spreading that tragedy to four other families by unujustly firing these officers and using them as political fodder. "This truly was a tragedy,” Gamaldi said. Union President Joe Gamaldi called Acevedo’s firing of the unidentified officers an "unjust and deplorable decision," and said the shooting was the justified conclusion to a “suicide by cop.” ![]() ![]() “If that's how little you value life, I don't need you in this department,” Acevedo said.Īcevedo’s comments came during a press conference Thursday afternoon, in which the department released body camera footage from the scene. "It's inexplicable to me, when they had plenty of opportunity to back up to continue doing what they were doing, for them to stay the line and shoot a man 21 times,” Acevedo said. Officers shot and killed Chavez on April 21, after discharging Tasers and firing bean bag shotgun rounds, in what they said was a response to Chavez grabbing a Taser and approaching them.Īcevedo said rather than stand their ground, the officers should have backed off as the man approached to continue deescalating the situation against a man who “was at his greatest level of incapacitation.” Patrick Rubio, on the force for two years Omar Tapia and Luis Alvarado, on the force for one year and Benjamin LeBlanc, a sergeant with 11 years experience, were all fired Thursday, after Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo found that 21 shots they fired at the 27-year-old man at the end of a 14-minute altercation were not “objectively reasonable.” The Houston Police Department has fired four officers linked to the deadly April police shooting of Nicolas Chavez, city officials announced Thursday. Courtesy of Chavez Family Nicolas Chavez, 27, was gunned down by Houston police on Ap– the first of six deadly shootings by HPD in five weeks.
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