Jesse Daniel Davila was in the custody of law enforcement personnel with the Edinburg Police Department in Edinburg, Texas, when he reportedly tried to flee from arrest. The custodial death report shows that Mr. Davila tried to injure law enforcement personnel. He died from gunshot wounds on January 11, 2021, at the age of 29.

Weapons Continued

The data from all resources used in the aforementioned study combine to show the frequency with which officers report that certain weapons were used, displayed, or threatened to be used, as follows:

• Police officers did not use a weapon in 97.9% of all adult custody arrests. 
• During the same arrests, 99.3% involved a suspect that did not use a weapon, either. 
• As was previously mentioned, the weapon most frequently used by police was some form of pepper spray, mostly oleoresin capsicum, which was used in 1.2% or 88 of the arrests included in this study.
• Flashlights were the second most frequent weapon used, which came to 41 arrests or 0.5% of the arrests.
• In only 11 or 0.1% of the arrests examined in the course of the study, police used handguns.
• In 7 or 0.1% of the arrests, shotguns or rifles were used by the police. No officer reported that such use involved the discharge of a firearm.
• The weapon used by suspects most frequently was a knife. Knives were used in 18 or 0.2% of all arrests.
• Suspects used a handgun in 12 or 0.2% of the arrests.
• Suspects used shotguns or rifles in 5 or 0.1% of the arrests considered in this study.

Learn more in Part 1 and this ongoing series.

There is not an intention on this website to imply that any person or institution has participated in wrongs. The purpose of this site’s posts is to provide resources helpful to county jail inmates in Texas.

–Guest Contributor