Texas Officer Fired After Killing Unarmed Teen
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Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson said Tuesday that an unarmed college football player tried to smash through a locked door in a car dealership showroom to escape an officer in training before he was fatally shot. According to Johnson early Friday morning, 49 year old Arlington officer Brad Miller was called to the scene of a suspected burglary, which resulted in the pursuit of 19-year-old Christian Taylor through the broken glass doors of a car dealership showroom without informing his supervising officer.
Miller gave Taylor orders to get to the ground. Johnson said instead, Taylor cursed at the officer and advanced toward him.
Miller fired when Taylor was about 10 feet away. Taylor continued moving, so Miller’s training officer, Cpl. Dale Wiggins, shot Taylor with a Taser.
Miller then fired three more times, with at least two bullets striking Taylor, killing him. On Tuesday Johnson said he hoped Miller’s firing will “assist in the healing process,” and stop Arlington from exploding like Ferguson, Missouri, or Baltimore.
Late Tuesday 60 protesters demonstrated outside Arlington police headquarters, demanding that Miller face criminal charges. On Tuesday, police released audio of a 911 call made by the company responsible for manning the exterior cameras.
Security camera footage from Classic Buick GMC dealership’s parking lots shows Taylor walking around and damaging some vehicles, however there is no video of the shooting itself. Johnson said before his final confrontation with Miller, Taylor supposedly held up a set of car keys and told another officer that he was going to steal a car.
Taylor had already driven a vehicle through the glass front doors of the showroom and, after officers arrived, was slamming his body into the side of a different part of the building to try to escape. However the chief said ultimately felt Miller’s mistakes required his firing.
According to police Miller cannot appeal his firing because he was a probationary employee. Johnson said it would be up to a grand jury to decide whether Miller’s actions were criminal.
Miller was in the process of field training and assigned to a senior officer, even though he was a licensed police officer authorized to carry a weapon. Police confirmed that this was his first time firing his weapon.
However, Johnson made a point to stress that officers in training “have the skills, the decision-making process, the authority” to act correctly in the field.
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