Texas Police Officer Shot Dead Unarmed Man, Charged With Manslaughter

A police officer in Temple, Texas, was arrested Monday and charged with manslaughter for fatally shooting an unarmed man during a traffic stop, officials said.

Temple police officer Carmen DeCruz, 52, shot Michael Dean, 28, to death on Dec. 2 following an altercation.

“The Texas Rangers investigation developed facts and evidence which support the elements of manslaughter,” Bell County District Attorney Henry Garza said in a press release Monday.

DeCruz, a nine-year veteran of the police department, attempted to pull Dean over during a traffic stop as he was speeding. Dean refused to stop which prompted the officer to give him a chase in his patrol car, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Dean stopped at the intersection of Little River Road and Loop 363. DeCruz got out of his car with a handgun drawn at him. He ordered Dean to turn off the engine and hand him over the keys. DeCruz’s body camera footage showed him ransacking Dean’s vehicle for the keys with his left hand while still holding the firearm in his right hand.

As DeCruz finally pulled the keys out with his left hand, “his right hand also pulls backwards causing the handgun to fire striking Michael Dean in the head,” the affidavit added.

DeCruz and other responding officers administered first-aid until paramedics arrived. However, Dean was pronounced dead at the scene. DeCruz was placed on paid administrative leave after the shooting, KXAS-TV reported.

Lee Meritt, the attorney representing Dean’s family, said in a Facebook post that they found the charge “wholly inappropriate” considering the evidence available in the case. They were demanding severer charges against the officer as he intended to cause “serious bodily harm or death when he shot Michael Dean in the face without justification.”

His bond was set at $500,000 and he could face 2 to 20 years in prison if convicted.