Texas officer shoots dead college football player after car dealership crash

[August 08, 2015]  By Victoria Cavaliere
 
 (Reuters) - A Texas police officer fatally shot a 19-year-old college football player suspected of driving a car through the window of a Dallas-area car dealership, police and media said on Friday.

Police in Arlington, a city in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, said the officer responded early on Friday to a call about a burglary in progress.

There, Officer Brad Miller, 49, confronted a suspect who was accused of driving a vehicle through the front of a car dealership, police said in a statement.

"There was an altercation during which at least one officer discharged his weapon," it said.

Christian Taylor, 19, a football player at Angelo State University, was killed, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Arlington police did not say if Taylor appeared to be armed before he was killed. Officer Miller was still in training after graduating from the police academy in March, authorities said.
 

The teen's death comes amid increased scrutiny over the use of force by police, particularly when dealing with black and Latino people, following a string of killings of unarmed men that began with the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri last year.

Taylor was black, media reported.

Arlington police said the shooting was under review.

"The preservation of life and safety is our highest priority. The Arlington Police Department is saddened by this loss of life and will provide the community a clear and transparent investigation," the department said in a statement.

Surveillance video of the incident was captured by the businesses, it added.

Arlington police do not wear body-worn cameras but a pilot program was in the works, the department said.

A growing number of U.S. police departments are attaching cameras to police uniforms, known as body-worn cameras, in addition to cameras placed on the dashboard of police vehicles, to add transparency to interactions with the public.

Advocates say the cameras will give a clear record of how both officers and suspects behave. Opponents say cameras could unfairly portray police tactics and might violate the privacy of victims and witnesses.

(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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