Killing of Pamela Turner

Last updated

On May 13, 2019, an African American woman, Pamela Turner, was shot and killed by a police officer from Baytown, Texas. [1]

The incident occurred at a parking lot of an apartment complex where both Turner and Officer Juan Delacruz (of the Baytown Police Department), were living at the time [1] [2] during an attempt to arrest her for outstanding warrants. [3]

Video footage of the shooting was captured by a bystander [4] and also by the officer's bodycam. [3] Police stated the officer was attempting to arrest her for outstanding warrants when she used his Taser on him; [5] at trial, Texas Ranger Lt. Eric Lopez testified more specifically that she used it on Delacruz’s genitals in the course of resisting arrest. [3] The bodycam showed the struggle between the two prior to the shooting. [3]

Turner's family said that the woman had suffered from schizophrenia and that Delacruz was aware of it; a neighbor also said that Turner was mentally unstable, that Delacruz was aware of it, and that he "had arrested her many times" and had used his Taser on her on the most recent occasion. [3]

During the encounter, Turner said to the officer “You’re actually harassing me” and “I’m actually walking to my house”. Just prior to the shooting, she said “I’m pregnant.” The police department confirmed that Turner was not pregnant. [6]

On September 14, 2020, a grand jury indicted Delacruz with aggravated assault by a public servant. [7] [8] On October 11, 2022, the jury found Delacruz not guilty. [3]

The family has retained national civil rights attorneys Benjamin Crump and Devon Jacob. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shooting of Eleanor Bumpurs</span> 1984 shooting death of an African-American woman by NYPD

The shooting of Eleanor Bumpurs by the New York Police Department (NYPD) occurred on October 29, 1984. The police were present to enforce a city-ordered eviction of Bumpurs, an elderly, disabled African American woman, from her New York Housing Authority (NYCHA) public housing apartment at 1551 University Avenue in the Morris Heights neighborhood of the Bronx.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Walter Scott</span> 2015 fatal shooting in North Charleston, South Carolina

On April 4, 2015, Walter Scott, a 50-year-old black man, was fatally shot by Michael Slager, a local police officer in North Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Slager had stopped Scott for a non-functioning brake light. Slager was charged with murder after a video surfaced showing him shooting Scott from behind while Scott was fleeing, which contradicted Slager's report of the incident. The racial difference led many to believe that the shooting was racially motivated, generating a widespread controversy.

On July 19, 2015, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Samuel DuBose, an unarmed man, was fatally shot by Ray Tensing, a University of Cincinnati police officer, during an off-campus traffic stop for not having the front license plate on the vehicle.

On September 14, 2013, Jonathan Ferrell, a 24-year-old former college football player for the Florida A&M University Rattlers sought help after a car crash. When police arrived, he ran towards them and was killed by police officer Randall "Wes" Kerrick in Charlotte, North Carolina. Kerrick was charged with voluntary manslaughter, but not convicted. Police dashcam footage of the incident was released to the public.

The shooting of Anthony Hill, a U.S. Air Force veteran, occurred on March 9, 2015, in Chamblee, Georgia, near Atlanta. Hill, fatally shot by police officer Robert Olsen, suffered from mental illness and was naked and unarmed at the time of the incident. The incident was covered in local and national press and sparked the involvement of Black Lives Matter and other advocacy groups who demonstrated their anger at the shooting. In January 2016, a grand jury indicted officer Olsen on two counts of felony murder and one count of aggravated assault. Nearing the fourth anniversary of the homicide, it was decided that Olsen's trial would be rescheduled for September 23, 2019, with delays including three successive judges having recused themselves in the case.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shooting of Daniel Shaver</span> 2016 police shooting of a man in Mesa, Arizona

On January 18, 2016, Daniel Leetin Shaver of Granbury, Texas, was fatally shot by police officer Philip Brailsford in the hallway of a La Quinta Inn & Suites hotel in Mesa, Arizona. Police were responding to a report that a rifle had been pointed out of the window of Shaver's hotel room.

The shooting of Korryn Gaines occurred on August 1, 2016, in Randallstown, Maryland, near Baltimore, resulting in the death of Gaines, a 23-year-old woman, and the shooting of her son, who survived. According to the Baltimore County Police Department, officers sought to serve Gaines a warrant in relation to an earlier traffic violation. She had refused to vacate her vehicle or show her driver's license, and resisted arrest. Immediately after the first officer entered her home to serve the warrant, Gaines pointed a shotgun at him, prompting him to withdraw without shots being fired. The Baltimore County SWAT team responded and a standoff began. She recorded and live streamed to Facebook where Gaines's friends told her to "continue on". She is seen to have told her son that "the police are coming to kill us". Upon her refusal to let them in, police got a key from the rental office but found the chain lock blocked their entry. An officer then kicked in the door. Police say Gaines pointed a shotgun at an officer, telling him to leave.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Keith Lamont Scott</span> 2016 American police shooting

Keith Lamont Scott, a 43-year-old African-American man, was fatally shot on September 20, 2016, in Charlotte, North Carolina, by Brentley Vinson, an African-American city police officer. It sparked both peaceful and violent protests led by Black Lives Matter in Charlotte.

Deborah Danner, 66, was fatally shot by New York Police Department Sgt. Hugh Barry on October 18, 2016, in her home in the Bronx, New York. According to police sources, she was armed with first a pair of scissors and then a baseball bat. According to an emergency medical technician, she had put the scissors down, and later on picked up a baseball bat. Barry was charged with murder and manslaughter in May 2017. He was acquitted in February 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Botham Jean</span> 2018 murder case in Texas

On the night of September 6, 2018, 26-year-old accountant Botham Jean was murdered when off-duty Dallas Police Department patrol officer Amber Guyger entered Jean's apartment in Dallas, Texas, and fatally shot him. Guyger, who said that she had entered Jean's apartment believing it was her own and believed Jean to be a burglar, was initially charged with manslaughter. The absence of a murder charge led to protests and accusations of racial bias, since Jean was a black man and unarmed and was killed in his own home by a white off-duty officer who had apparently disregarded police protocols. On November 30, 2018, Guyger was indicted on a charge of murder. On October 1, 2019, she was found guilty of murder, and was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment the following day. The ruling was upheld on appeal in 2021.

On January 28, 2019, in the Pecan Park area in the East End district of Houston, Houston Police Department (HPD) officers initiated a no-knock raid on a house, killing the two homeowners, a husband and wife: Dennis Wayne Tuttle and Rhogena Ann Nicholas. They were aged 59 and 58, respectively. Five HPD officers sustained injuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Atatiana Jefferson</span> 2019 police manslaughter of a woman in Fort Worth, Texas

Atatiana Koquice Jefferson, a 28-year-old woman, was shot inside her home by a police officer in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, in the early morning of October 12, 2019. Police arrived at her home after a neighbor called a non-emergency number, stating that Jefferson's front door was open. Police body camera footage showed officers walking outside the home with flashlights for a few minutes then one officer yells, "Put your hands up! Show me your hands!", while discharging his weapon through a window. Police found a handgun near Jefferson's body, which according to her eight-year-old nephew, she was pointing toward the window before being shot. On October 14, 2019, Officer Aaron Dean, the shooter, resigned from the Fort Worth Police Department and was arrested on a murder charge. On December 20, 2019, Dean was indicted for murder. Jefferson was black and the officer who shot her is white, prompting news outlets to compare Jefferson's shooting to the September 2018 murder of Botham Jean in nearby Dallas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Breonna Taylor</span> 2020 police killing in Louisville, Kentucky, US

Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old black woman, was fatally shot in her Louisville, Kentucky apartment on March 13, 2020, when at least seven police officers forced entry into the apartment as part of an investigation into drug dealing operations. Three Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officers—Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove—were involved in the shooting. Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, was inside the apartment with her when the plainclothes officers knocked on the door and then forced entry. The officers said that they announced themselves as police before forcing entry, but Walker said he did not hear any announcement, thought the officers were intruders, and fired a warning shot at them. The shot hit Mattingly in the leg, and the officers fired 32 shots in return. Walker was unhurt but Taylor, who was behind Walker, was hit by six bullets and died. During the incident, Hankison moved to the side of the apartment and shot 10 bullets through a covered window and glass door. According to police, Taylor's home was never searched.

On August 5, 2016, Jamarion Rashad Robinson, a 26-year-old African American man who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was shot 59 times and killed in a police raid in East Point, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. The shooting occurred when at least 14 officers of a Southeast Regional Fugitive Taskforce from at least seven different agencies, led by U.S. Marshals, forcibly entered the apartment of Robinson's girlfriend to serve a warrant for his arrest. The warrant was being served on behalf of the Gwinnett County police and the Atlanta Police Department, and authorities said they had sought his arrest for attempted arson and aggravated assault of a police officer. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) stated that Robinson had been repeatedly ordered to put down a weapon and that officers who had been involved in the shooting reported Robinson fired at them three times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Rayshard Brooks</span> June 2020 police killing in Atlanta, Georgia

On the night of June 12, 2020, Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old African American man, was fatally shot by Atlanta Police Department (APD) officer Garrett Rolfe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breonna Taylor protests</span> 2020–22 protests after the police shooting of Breonna Taylor

The Breonna Taylor protests were a series of police brutality protests surrounding the killing of Breonna Taylor. Taylor was a 26-year-old African-American woman who was fatally shot by plainclothes officers of the Louisville Metro Police Department on March 13, 2020. Police were initially given "no-knock" search warrant, but orders were changed to "knock and announce" before the raid. Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who was inside the apartment with her during the raid, said he thought the officers were intruders. He fired one shot, hitting officer Mattingly in the leg, and the officers fired 32 shots in return, killing Taylor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Walter Wallace</span> October 2020 death of a man after a shooting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

On October 26, 2020, Walter Wallace Jr., a 27-year-old African-American man, was shot by Philadelphia police officers Sean Matarazzo and Thomas Munz in Cobbs Creek, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The two officers arrived in the area to respond to a domestic dispute. When they arrived, Wallace walked out of his house carrying a knife. The two officers backed away while telling him to drop the knife shortly before they each fired several rounds at Wallace, hitting him in the shoulder and chest. He later died from his wounds in the hospital. Wallace's family stated that Wallace was having a mental health crisis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Daunte Wright</span> 2021 fatal police shooting in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, United States

On April 11, 2021, Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old black man, was fatally shot by police officer Kimberly Potter during a traffic stop and attempted arrest for an outstanding warrant in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, United States. After a brief struggle with officers, Potter shot Wright in the chest once at close range. Wright then drove off a short distance, but his vehicle collided with another and hit a concrete barrier. Officers administered CPR, but were unable to revive him, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Potter said she meant to use her service Taser, shouting "Taser! Taser! Taser!" just before firing her service pistol instead.

References

  1. 1 2 Paybarah, Azi (September 14, 2020). "Officer in Texas Is Indicted in 2019 Fatal Shooting of Pamela Turner". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on September 15, 2020. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  2. ↑ "Pamela Turner: Texas charges officer for fatal 2019 US shooting". Al Jazeera. September 15, 2020. Archived from the original on September 15, 2020. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Alexander, Chloe; Homer, Michelle (October 11, 2022). "Jury finds Baytown officer not guilty in 2019 shooting death of Pamela Turner". KHOU . Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Lawyer: Cop killed mentally ill Texas woman in "unjustifiable execution"". CBS News. May 16, 2019. Archived from the original on October 7, 2020. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Texas officer charged with assault in fatal shooting of Pamela Turner in 2019". USA Today . Archived from the original on October 6, 2021. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
  6. ↑ "Texas: woman shot dead by officer was not pregnant despite her claim". The Guardian . Associated Press. May 14, 2019. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  7. ↑ Vera, Amir; Raja, Razek (September 15, 2020). "Texas police officer indicted after fatally shooting a woman with schizophrenia". CNN. Archived from the original on September 15, 2020. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Texas Officer Charged With Assault in Fatal 2019 Shooting of Black Woman". The Wall Street Journal. Associated Press. September 14, 2020. ISSN   0099-9660. Archived from the original on September 16, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  9. ↑ Bleiberg | AP, Jake. "Lawyer: Texas city's police leaders must reform or resign". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286. Archived from the original on September 29, 2022. Retrieved December 18, 2020.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.