There have been few charges filed and no convictions until Oliver was sent to prison in 2018. Since Santos’ slaying, dozens of cops here have killed people. “He is a ghost who stands at every door, who we remember every time a cop kills another person,” Fullinwider said. John Fullinwider, a longtime Dallas activist, says the murder of Santos has “haunted this city ever since.” Morehead was struck by bullets fired by Cain and his partner. Three years earlier, Cain had shot to death unarmed Black 18-year-old Michael Morehead, who was allegedly fleeing the scene of a burglary. While in the backseat of the car, prosecutors say, Cain forced the boy to play a “Russian roulette”-style game while trying to get a confession.Ĭain was sentenced to five years in prison. That year, Darrell Cain, a white officer, shot and killed 12-year-old Santos Rodriguez, a Mexican American boy who sat handcuffed in a patrol car as police investigated calls about an alleged burglary. The two convictions in Dallas County came after decades of cops shooting unarmed Black men and not facing any criminal charges.īefore Oliver’s conviction, the last time a police officer was convicted of murder in Dallas County was in 1973. Since 2018, juries here have convicted two police officers of murder - Oliver, who shot Jordan Edwards, and Amber Guyger, the officer who killed Botham Jean, 26, inside his own apartment, which she said she mistook for her own on a lower floor. If it does, Dallas County could prove an early indicator of that shift. While the size and prolonged nature of recent demonstrations may indicate a cultural shift, Metzger said, it is unclear whether the ferment will translate into more guilty verdicts against police officers who kill citizens. “Historically,” said Pamela Metzger, director of the Criminal Justice Reform Center at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, “jurors have been sympathetic toward police officers, giving them the benefit of every doubt.” While the filing of criminal charges against an officer has in the past been unusual, convictions have proved even more rare. In Louisville, Ky., and across the nation, protesters continue to demand criminal prosecution of a now-fired officer who burst into Breonna Taylor’s home with a no-knock warrant and fatally shot the 26-year-old emergency medical technician. And last month, prosecutors in Atlanta swiftly charged the officer who shot Rayshard Brooks in a Wendy’s parking lot with felony murder. And we have to ensure that our men and women realize that.But then came the step that in the past has infrequently happened: Prosecutors filed criminal charges against the police officers.ĭerek Chauvin, the Minneapolis officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck, stands accused of second-degree murder, while three other officers at the scene on May 25 face aiding-and-abetting charges. If there’s ever a time to set the standard, it is now. ![]() “We’re at a critical point in this police department we’re going on a very large hiring push. “We certainly just can’t close ranks and move on when something like this happens,” García said. But García reiterated he has “serious concerns” about the incident, particularly from a training perspective. García said everything he’s seen on paper about Grisham shows that he’s “an exceptional officer” who has been on the force for five or six years. And I have concerns about this, and we’re looking into that as well.” ![]() “I’ve sat in front here and defended my men and women, and I will defend them to the hilt when I believe they’re right,” García said. ![]() (Elias Valverde II/The Dallas Morning News) (Elias Valverde II / Staff Photographer) ![]() Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia listens to a question during a press conference at Dallas Police headquarters on Wednesday, Sept.
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