An Arlington Police Officer is Cleared in the Alleged Police Shooting of Tavis Crane
On February 1, 2017, 23-year-old Tavis Crane was allegedly fatally shot by a police officer during a traffic stop in Arlington, Texas. It has just been announced that the officer who allegedly shot him has been cleared. A grand jury in Tarrant County decided not to indict the officer. The dashcam video has also just been released.
Crane had been pulled over by officers, and he had warrants for his arrest. Officers told him to exit his vehicle, and he refused. He allegedly ran over Cpl. Elise Bowden twice. A backup officer at the scene was part-way inside Crane’s vehicle before it began moving. He managed to get all the way in and allegedly shot Crane.
Officer Bowden suffered broken bones and other injuries and had to be hospitalized for a few days.
Crane’s family had demanded to see the dashcam video of what happened and it was released on August 24, 2017. The video captures the two Arlington police officers approaching Crane’s car. Besides Crane, there was another adult and an infant in the vehicle. The video shows Crane saying that he would not step out of his car, saying he did nothing wrong. Bowden informed him that he has a warrant. Crane continued resisting.
Finally, Bowden informed Crane that windows of the vehicle would be broken if he didn’t comply and that things would get crazy. One police officer opened the rear driver’s door and another pointed a flashlight into the front passenger window. Bowden went behind the vehicle, and it went in reverse, striking the officer. She was knocked onto the ground. The car then crashed into a patrol car and pulled forward, again running over the officer. At some point during these events, the other officer shot Crane. The officer performed CPR on Crane until an ambulance arrived. He was transported to Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
As with every post on this website, we are only providing information in this post and do not make any allegation or assertion that anyone acted inappropriately or engaged in misconduct.
–Guest Contributor