A police officer shot and killed an unarmed Black woman whose last words were “I’m pregnant!” following a physical confrontation in an apartment complex parking lot in suburban Houston Monday night. The woman and the officer were not immediately identified, but a bystander managed to capture the fatal episode on camera in the city of Baytown.
“Baytown Police Lt. Steve Dorris said an officer on patrol saw a 45-year-old woman the officer had had prior encounters with,” CBS News reported. “He knew the woman had outstanding warrants, so he approached her to arrest her.”
That encounter turned into a struggle between the two, with the woman falling to the ground before the officer used his Taser on her. When she got up and pushed the officer away, the cop pulled out his gun and shot her multiple times at very close range.
The video of the shooting went viral overnight and spread quickly across social media. It was the latest instance of an unarmed Black person being killed when standard police training, in theory, should have allowed the officer to de-escalate the situation without resorting to lethal force, at least. At best, the officer could have called for backup since his life did not appear to be in any kind of imminent danger.
Baytown police said they want to speak with the person who recorded the shooting and said it was “unfortunate” that person decided to post the footage to social media.
“It’s extremely disrespectful for everybody involved,” Dorris told CBS News. “But that’s the day and age we live in with social media.”
Of course, cellphone video cameras and social media have become the great equalizer surrounding police shootings that many times result in conflicting accounts from law enforcement and shooting victims. The footage can many times offer a truthful and accurate snapshot of the incident in question and serve as critical evidence in the event the officer is charged, which is a rarity.
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/1129241740437803009
https://twitter.com/BarrettBrown_/status/1128493519964921856
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https://twitter.com/TalbertSwan/status/1129075317967085569
Whatever! The Texas Rangers investigated Sandra Bland’s death and four years later a withheld video surfaces of State Trooper Brian Encinia sticking a taser in her face and saying “I’ll light you up”. No one is held accountable for her death. We’re not buying she hanged herself.
https://twitter.com/KHOU/status/1128790492727205894
Truth. The taser had already been deployed. Cop lied his ass off. We heard the taser deployed in the video. The next sounds we hear are 5 shots emptied into Pamela Turner. Cold ass murder. Arrest this killer cop!
https://twitter.com/MissJupiter1957/status/1128424272190484482
https://twitter.com/AttorneyCrump/status/1129044720083197959
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https://twitter.com/KPRC2Cathy/status/1129063096830570498
Stalked and harassed. He knew she was schizophrenic.
https://twitter.com/MeritLaw/status/1128597429438308352
Just too much 😪😪😪
Get to the bottom of this @ACLUTx. It’s so damn disturbing. The cop shot her down like a rabid dog…like her life was of no value whatsoever. My God! @CityofBaytown
https://twitter.com/ACLUTx/status/1128372722021670912
https://twitter.com/NinjetteTheReal/status/1128346535241105408
https://twitter.com/NinjetteTheReal/status/1128353499778101251
It doesn’t matter if she was pregnant or not….the victim clearly said she was and the cop shot her 5 times anyway. So got damn disturbing.
This looks like an execution.
I’m wondering if Pamela Turner told the cop she was pregnant (even if she was not pregnant) thinking it would deter him from killing her. Either way, this seems to indicate that she knew he was going to kill her, she was the one looking at him and she knew.
And, of course, they knew each other. I wonder if he threatened her in the past.
https://twitter.com/MakeupMomStr8Up/status/1128183663898836993
https://twitter.com/JoyRainsDown/status/1128320979996950528
In the video, you can hear the woman ask…why are you harassing me and then the last words “I’m pregnant”. Cop shot her down like she was a rabid dog.
White boys shoot up schools killing scores of innocent kids and cops arrest them alive….but gun down unarmed Black people who are no threat.