Neighbors, friends and members of an East Austin activist organization and the NAACP gathered in front of the Austin Police Department Monday night to protest the killing of Daniel Rocha by police officers last Thursday night. The police who already don’t have the best rep in the world for their conduct shot Rocha, an 18-year-old southeast Austin resident, after he was pulled over on suspicion of participating in drug actives in the neighborhood.
Protestors, including those from People in Defense of the Earth and her Resources (PODER), a grass roots organization concerned about the environment and social justice, demanded more scrutiny of police policies and an end to the continuing epidemic of brutality involving the local force. PODER says the shooting is directly related to zero tolerance policies used in both schools and on the streets by police.
At the protest, PODER called for the officer involved in the shooting, Julie Schroeder, to be tried in both criminal and civil cases and for an independent investigation into the nature of the shooting. Shroeder has been placed on restricted duty.
PODER coordinator Erika Gonzalez, told the Daily Texan, "This officer did not have to go to the extreme to kill him.”
Police should try to disable a suspect before they try to kill them, Nelson Linder, spokesman for the NAACP told the Daily Texan. "He was no threat to the police, and no threat to the public. He should not have been killed," Linder said. "People who commit these crimes need to be held accountable, even if they are police."
Police say Rocha was shot in a struggle with officers who were trying to arrest him. The Austin American Statesman reports today that Shroeder told internal affairs investigators that she fatally shot the teenager because she feared that he had taken her Taser stun gun and was about to use it against her or her sergeant, according to a source close to the investigation.
The Austin Police Association, the officers’ union, say they stands by Schroeder. They say Rocha was a known troublemaker. Wuthipong Tantaksinanukij, Vice-President of Austin's Police Association referred to Rocha as a “criminal thug.”
Neighbors of Rocha report they live in fear because they believe Austin Police continue to target minorities. "You might get shot for no reason. You don't know. It's scary," Stephanie Pesina told KXAN.
Pesina was walking down the street when it all happened. "We saw the suburban pull up, and we saw the cop car pull up right behind it. The cop gets out right away with her gun drawn," Pesina said. She says things got out of hand when Shroeder tried to place Rocha in custody. "He was yelling, 'I'm not armed. I'm not armed.' And I guess there was a little bit of a struggle," Pesina said. "All I remember is you heard a gunshot. It wasn't like a loud gunshot to where you could hear it in the air. It was like she held it up to him and shot him." She added, “They weren't even armed, and for her to just pull her gun out on them and actually shoot him, I don't think that's right," Pesina said.
Two other people who said they witnessed the shooting told the American-Statesman they did not see a struggle. "All of a sudden she (Shroeder) just grabbed him, put him down there and threw him on the floor," Sonya Lopez said. "I thought they were going to try to put handcuffs on him . . . and all of a sudden, the shot just went off."
Tamara Thomason said, "There was not a struggle. I did not see a struggle."
Travis County Medical Examiner Roberto Bayardo said Monday that there were a few scrapes and a bruise he didn't notice on Rocha's body Friday that were noted on the autopsy report by Deputy Medical Examiner Suzanna Dana. None of the scrapes or the bruises looked like self-defense wounds, Bayardo said. "These are very minor abrasions, as if he was on the ground or crawling on the ground or falling on the ground," Bayardo said. He also said that Rocha suffered a gunshot wound to the back.
The family’s attorney, Bobby Taylor, said, "There are things that need to be brought out and unfortunately, the Austin Police Department's history in investigating themselves is not the best. So, we're going to try and get other people to look at the facts here and see what occurred.”
Protester Colin Clark told those gathered outside the police station, "It's a community social problem that is mostly affecting people of color, but white people, yellow people and red people. We all need to understand what's wrong and make people accountable for their actions.”
"The question is, how many times and how many kids are going to be killed by the police before the city, police, and police chief get serious about preventing it from happening?" Jim Harrington, spokesperson for Texas Civil Rights Project, asked on News 8. Sources: Daily Texan, News 8 (Austin, TX), Austin American Statesman, KXAN (Austin)
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