Four Houston police officers who were fired over their involvement in the fatal shooting of a suicidal man suffering from mental illness w...
Four Houston police officers who were fired over their involvement in the fatal shooting of a suicidal man suffering from mental illness who reached for a Taser will not be criminally charged.
A Harris County grand jury declined Monday to indict the four former officers - Patrick Rubio, Omar Tapia, Luis Alvarado, and Benjamin LeBlanc - who confronted 27-year-old Nicolas Chavez on April 21 of last year.
They said there was no probable cause to bring criminal charges against them, amid claims Chavez wanted to commit 'suicide by cop'.
Police video shows Chavez on his knees while reaching for his stun gun before he was killed by a barrage of two dozen bullets.
Union leaders denounced the firings as 'unjust and deplorable,' saying the officers followed their training and tried to de-escalate the situation but were forced to shoot Chavez when he pointed a stun gun at them.
'It was clear...these officers did not want to shoot Mr. Chavez and did everything in their power not to,' said union president Joe Gamaldi, who argued that Chavez's death was a case of 'suicide by cop.'
Last year, then-Police Chief Art Acevedo and Mayor Sylvester Turner released body camera footage capturing the incident from different angles.
Speaking of the numbers of shots fired at Chavez, Acevedo said: 'I cannot defend that.'
Shocking bystander video from April 21, 2020 shows Nicolas Chavez, 27, being shot by Houston police during a confrontation
Four of the officers who were involved in the shooting were fired from the force. A grand jury declined to bring criminal charges against the former officers
Chavez was a married father of three with a history of mental illness (pictured right with his wife and child). Police union officials argued that he committed 'suicide by cop'
In the graphic video, officers try to calm Chavez down but he slashes himself with a piece of metal, hurls profanities at the officers and repeatedly tells them he wants to die.
The shooting on April 21 of last year followed a 15-minute confrontation with police.
Officers were responding to a call about a possibly suicidal man who was running in and out of traffic outside 800 Gazin Street.
Chavez's family have said the married father-of-three had a history of mental illness.
Disturbing cellphone video taken by a bystander appears to show Chavez on his knees just before officers unleash a barrage of bullets, causing him the collapse.
'Was that necessary? Was that necessary?' the person recording the video says. 'Oh, he's dead, he's bleeding. They just shot him to death. They killed him.'
Body camera footage released by the police last year shows that officers spent 15 minutes trying to calm Chavez down
Video shows Chavez reaching for the wires of a stun gun that an officers had dropped
Then-Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo excoriated his officers for firing on Chavez 21 times after he was already struck by gunfire and incapacitated
Gamaldi said officers had used every non-lethal option available to them, including a stun gun and bean bag rounds, to subdue Chavez, but that he refused to surrender.
Police said Chavez also had a piece of rebar in his hand and had picked up a stun gun that an officer had dropped and pointed it at officers just before he was killed.
Body camera video released by the police this afternoon shows Chavez pulling the wires of the Taser.
An officer orders him to stop and stay on the ground, but he does not obey the command.
Moments later the cops open fire, discharging a total of 24 rounds and inflicting 29 wounds on Chavez, including entry and exit wounds, and injuries from bullet fragments bouncing off the ground.
Acevedo told reporters that he considers the final barrage consisting of 21 bullets fired at Chavez after the initial three shots to not be objectionably reasonable, adding that he cannot defend his officers' actions.
'And I believe that anyone that watches this tape, that see this, would see that that they had a lot of opportunities and a lot of options readily available to them that as long as I'm the police chief in this city, I'll expect my officers to take,' Acevedo stated.
'You don't get to shoot somebody 21 times because at that time when we discharge those 21 rounds Mr Chavez was at this greatest level of incapacitation.'
'These officers were distraught over having to take a life out there,' said Doug Griffith, the union's first vice president, prior to the release of the body camera footage.
The shooting was found to be justified by the city's independent police oversight board, Griffith said.
Officers opened fire on Chavez after her refused their command to get on the ground
Chavez sustained 29 gunshot wounds, including entry and exit wounds, and injuries from bullet fragments
Chavez is survived by his wife, Jessica, and his three children
The shooting took place a month earlier after the police-involved death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Floyd died after Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into his neck for more than nine minutes. Chauvin was convicted earlier this year of manslaughter and second-degree murder.
He was sentenced to more than 22 years behind bars.
Floyd's death sparked protests worldwide, including in Floyd's hometown of Houston, against racial injustice and police brutality.
The police union suggested the firings were the result of political pressure following the marches for police reform.
Activists in Houston called on Acevedo to release body camera footage from Chavez's shooting.
Chavez's father also called for any footage related to the shooting to be released, but his widow, Jessica, urged that it remain under wraps, saying the bystander's video was too explicit.
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