Texas Police Officer Fired After Killing Unarmed College Student

Androphy thinks Miller’s testimony would sway a grand jury toward no indictment.

Attorney John Snider said in a statement Wednesday to The Associated Press that his client, Brad Miller, “made decisions in the heat of a violent confrontation to save his and other officers’ lives”.

Johnson was questioned about Brad Miller’s age – he is 49 – which seems older than usual to start a career in policing. Paul’s family has filed a federal lawsuit against the police and the city of Arlington.

Police responded to reports of a burglary, and the surveillance footage shows an ambulance arriving on the scene minutes after police enter the dealership. Taylor then drove his own auto through a dealership showroom. Officers responded around 1:20am on Friday and spotted Taylor inside the dealership.

Miller’s subject coaching officer, who had adopted Miller into the showroom, drew his personal Taser. Wiggins had joined him by the time of the shooting, he was “in fear, that he believed he was alone inside the building and that he would be overpowered by Mr. Taylor”. Wiggins fired his Taser, and then Miller fired his gun three more times. Another officer testified that Taylor, cornered by Miller, tried to smash through a glass wall with his body.

But Taylor’s father said he felt little satisfaction in knowing that the rookie cop who killed his son had been fired.

“We also expect the Arlington Police Department to correct deficiencies in its training program”.

Miller unnecessarily placed himself in a position where he could have to shoot an unarmed man in self-defense, the chief said. “Our community is hurting, a family is hurting, our department is hurting, and indeed our nation is hurting”. Both officers face felony criminal charges.

The firing was “not sufficient justice”, stated Matthew Higgins, 20, one in every of Taylor’s former highschool classmates.

The Arlington Municipal Patrolman’s Association is not happy that Officer Miller was fired so quickly after the incident, while still expressing sympathy for the Taylor family and their loss of a son. Miller fired once at Taylor at a distance of 10 feet.

But with all due respect to Snider and his career, I’d like to hear from an actual active-duty police officer willing to defend a still-in-field-training rookie running into a building after a suspect, short of a life-and-death emergency, without at least informing the other five officers on site.

The Rev. Dwight McKissic, Cornerstone’s pastor, presented the Taylor family with a $5,000 check on behalf of the church to defray expenses incurred because of Taylor’s death.

Taylor played football at Angelo State University in San Angelo. Taylor held up a set of vehicle keys, Johnson said, and told the officer he was going to steal a auto. Johnson said it’s not clear if that shot hit Taylor.

“Based on a preponderance of evidence available to me and facts revealed by the investigative team, I have decided to terminate Officer Miller’s employment with the Arlington police department for exercising poor judgment”, Johnson said at a news conference.

“This is a extraordinarily hard case”, Johnson said. “Decisions were made that created an environment of cascading consequences and an unrecoverable outcome”.

Miller, who had only been with the department since September 2014, was accompanied by his training officer, Corporal Dale Wiggins. Police spokesman Tiara Richard said Miller had retained a lawyer but did not know who.