San Antonio cop fired after shooting teen in McDonald’s parking lot
Josh Campbell, CNN
A San Antonio Police Department officer has been fired after shooting a 17-year-old boy who was eating a meal in a McDonald’s parking lot Sunday, the department said.
The unnamed officer, described by the department as a probationary officer with seven months’ experience, was fired for violating the department’s “tactics, training, and procedures,” police said.
The SAPD said in a video statement the officer was handling an unrelated disturbance call at the McDonald’s Sunday night when he saw a car he believed had evaded police the previous day and called for backup.
Before backup officers arrived, body camera video released by police shows the officer walk up to the driver’s side of the car, open the door, and order the driver out. The visibly startled teen, who was in the driver’s seat eating, put the car in reverse and started backing up.
The police officer then opened fire five times on the car, according to the video. As the driver shifted the vehicle to move forward, body camera video showed the officer opening fire an additional five times as the car drove away.
The SAPD said the teen was found a block away suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. A passenger in the car was uninjured, police said.
The teen remained hospitalized as of Wednesday, police said, and was charged with evading detention in a vehicle and assaulting the officer, who had claimed he was struck by the door of the car as the teen backed up.
The teen’s defense attorney, Brian Powers, told CNN that the Bexar County district attorney’s office notified him Friday that prosecutors would not be moving forward with charges against his client. A spokesperson for the DA’s office referred CNN to the county’s online court record system, which indicates that both charges have been dismissed and the case closed.
“We ask for prayers for [the teen] and his family,” Powers said, adding that his client remains in hospital for treatment of his injuries.
The SAPD said it is investigating the incident and will forward its findings to the Bexar County District Attorney, who said in a statement that his office’s Civil Rights Division would be reviewing the police shooting and the charges against the teen.
The-CNN-Wire
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