Grand Prairie Police Misconduct Attorney – New Texas Laws Improve Transparency Regarding Police Shooting
Greater transparency with regard to law enforcement reporting on fatal and serious police shootings has uncovered cases that would allegedly previously have been obscured. When agencies don’t report officer-involved shootings, there is now greater accountability and incentive to be thorough in sharing facts about each such incident. The following is information on two officer-involved shootings in Texas that would allegedly and historically have been kept silent but for the new laws.
In October 2015, 21-year-old Garrett Steven McKinney was shot and killed outside of a regional hospital following an altercation with an officer with the Texas Department of Public Safety. McKinney had been there for the purpose of receiving mental health treatment. This story is the type that previously wouldn’t have come under the public’s radar. Discussions on this shooting, which contributed to Texas reforms, involved Sherene Mayner, McKinney’s mother in Austin, Texas.
On January 30, 2016, a 25-year-old rookie cop in Clute, Texas, allegedly fired his weapon through the bedroom wall of his apartment accidentally. When the shot went off, 35-year-old neighbor Reggie Rossow Jr. had been asleep. He heard the gunshot and almost rolled off of his bed. He realized something was wrong and felt blood but didn’t realize he had been shot. The officer knocked on the door of Rossow’s apartment and asked if everyone was okay, admitting what had just happened. Turned out the bullet traveled through Rossow’s spleen. His spleen had to be removed, which left him with medical bills of more than $50,000 and a susceptibility to infection. Within days of the accidental alleged off-duty police shooting, the rookie police officer resigned. He was later indicted on a deadly conduct charge. It’s a misdemeanor with a punishment of up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $4,000. His trial is set for October 2017.
In the past 22 months, there have been 330 officer-involved shootings in Texas. It has been very rare for officers to face charges, though research shows that 1 of every 6 person shot by a Texas law enforcement officer was allegedly unarmed.
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
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