Deputy kills unarmed black man after alleged Houston Dollar General shoplifting

The Houston Sheriff’s Department released body camera footage last weekend that shows a deputy holding a black man and shooting him at close range after receiving 911 calls about a shoplifting and assault suspected at a Dollar General store.

sergeant. Garrett Hardin of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office pinned Roderick Brooks to the ground on July 8 after a foot chase and shot him, video shows. Sadiyah Evangelista Karriem, an attorney for Brooks’ family, told HuffPost that the deputy shot the 47-year-old near where his head and neck met.

Brooks’ family alleged police brutality and abuse of force, and on Tuesday called on the Texas Rangers and the US Department of Justice to investigate the shooting.

They think law enforcement footage only tells part of the story. Demetria Brooks-Glaze, Brooks’ sister, said witnesses told the family that the officer punched Brooks multiple times and it was not shown in body camera footage released by the department. .

“The world needs to see what they are doing. In this case, they don’t show everything,” she said, calling the shooting a “racist act.”

“What gives you the right to take someone’s life by shooting them in the back of the neck and in the back of the neck? » Added Brooks-Glaze.

Law enforcement said security video, which has not been made public, shows Brooks arriving at Dollar General and then leaving without paying for items he grabbed from the shelves. An employee confronted him on the way out, according to the police.

At 6:04 p.m., the Harris County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a woman who said a “black man in a blue shirt, gray shorts, and baseball cap” had taken items from the store without paying and l had struck.

“A customer is running out of the store and he hit me on the way out,” the woman said during the 911 call, a recording of which was released by police. “He pushed my arm out of the way.”

The woman said she did not need emergency medical services.

“I just want him arrested because he’s literally running around the back of the building right now,” she told the dispatcher.

The woman later told the dispatcher that she did not believe the man had a weapon and that she did not believe he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The dispatcher asked if the deputies would face threats once they arrived at the scene, and the woman said no.

A the man called 911 twice, saying he saw a man leaving the store with detergent and alleging the man “pushed a lady” on the way out.

Footage released by police shows Hardin approaching Brooks in his car and stopping outside a gas station.

“Come here, man,” the officer said as he exited his vehicle. He then chases Brooks through the parking lot.

“Stop it man, I’m going to taser you!” said Hardin.

He tells Brooks to get down several times.

The officer then stuns Brooks, bringing him to the ground. Images darken briefly. When he returns, Brooks is on the ground and the officer has his hand on his neck. The stun gun is on the ground, near Brooks’ head.

“Why did you taste me? Brooks asks Hardin. “Please let go of me, man.”

The two begin to fight. While pinned to the ground, Brooks grabs the Taser in front of him.

“I will shoot you. Put that down,” Hardin said. “I’ll fucking shoot you.”

Body camera footage shows Brooks did not aim the Taser at the officer and dropped it as Hardin grabbed his gun.

Hardin then shot Brooks in the base of the head and neck while keeping it on the ground.

Lawyers representing Brooks’ family are also working to file a lawsuit against the Harris and Hardin County Sheriff’s Office.

“That’s what we see when we continually lack honest policing in this country. It’s a failure from top to bottom,” Justin Moore, an attorney representing Brooks’ family, told HuffPost. be alive today if it weren’t for the rogue officer being here on these streets.”

“What we saw in the raw footage shows the officer was totally out of control and did not follow policy,” Moore added.

Moore said Brooks never posed a threat to the deputy, even after the officer lost possession of his Taser during the struggle.

“The Taser issue is a red herring, and if you see the video, he grabs the Taser but he releases it multiple times,” Moore said. “He never grabs it and points it at the officer. He tried to make him stop shocking her.

Hardin is on paid administrative leave while the department investigates the shooting. A public meeting about the incident is scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m.