More than a quarter of civilians shot by HPD in 5 years had no weapon, and the last officer charged in a shooting was in 2004
Houston police fired their guns at civilians more than 100 times in the last five years, resulting in numerous injuries and deaths, but never in charges against the officers.
From 2008 to 2012, officers shot 121 people, 52 of them fatally.
Police say their lives or others were threatened in all those incidents, although more than a quarter of the civilians shot by the Houston Police Department during that time were unarmed. Of the unarmed people shot, 10 died. They include a mentally ill double amputee in a wheelchair and a Navy veteran diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Officers shot unarmed civilians who “reached” or “grabbed” for their waistlines — or held objects such as cellphones or a hairbrush that police mistook for weapons.
Harris County grand juries have cleared HPD officers of criminal wrongdoing in all shootings from 2008 to 2012 that they have reviewed so far, a Houston Chronicle investigation has found.
The last time an HPD officer was charged for a shooting was in March 2004, when Arthur Carbonneau was indicted in the death of 14-year-old Eli Escobar Jr. Carbonneau was convicted of negligent homicide in that case. Since then, Houston police officers have been cleared by Harris County grand juries 288 consecutive times for shootings.
The newspaper also found that most HPD officers receive less shooting range training annually than what national and international police agencies recommend. And when it comes to fulfilling that basic training requirement, the department appears lagging. Houston police officers currently on the force have been cited 405 times by their superiors for failing to undergo annual firearms qualifications, according to an HPD database of sustained internal affairs complaints.
Very few HPD patrol vehicles, meanwhile, have dashboard cameras, denying officers and the public a proven method of documenting whether or not the use of force is appropriate. Jeff Monk, manager of HPD’s open records unit, said he was not aware of any HPD shooting from 2008 to 2012 that was captured on a dashboard camera.
Nearly 100% cleared
The rate that officers are cleared in shootings has raised the most alarm among family members and civil rights activists who contend HPD is not held sufficiently accountable for civilian injuries and deaths.
Mayor Annise Parker deferred comment on police shootings to HPD.
Police Chief Charles McClelland has defended his officers, saying they did nothing illegal. Under state law, police can use deadly force against an unarmed suspect if the officer believes the suspect could cause serious bodily injury or death to the officer or another person.
“There is no requirement that one has to be armed,” for an officer to use deadly force, McClelland said. “If I’m out here in the middle of the street, and I’m fighting for my life and you’re getting the best of me, and I decide to use deadly force to save my life, I have not committed a violation of the law even if you only had a paper clip in your pocket.”
His officers also rarely face discipline internally for shootings.
In the five years of records examined by the Chronicle, investigators with HPD’s internal affairs division reviewed 636 shootings of all types by officers, including shootings of animals and accidental discharges. They ruled that only one shooting was not justified and ordered a supervisor to counsel a patrol officer whose unholstered gun went off as he struggled to detain a suspect in August 2008.
The newspaper’s findings prompted serious questions among community activists and experts about the judgment shown by HPD officers. The number of shootings of unarmed suspects, in particular, alarmed Larry Karson, assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Houston-Downtown.
“If one-quarter of the people you’re shooting are not truly a danger to the officer, it brings into question the training of the officers,” Karson said. “Are they getting an appropriate amount of training in what is called 'shoot/no-shoot' situations to learn to pay attention to things like cellphones, since we all now carry them?”
Amin Alehashem, director and staff attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project in Houston, said a lack of punishment for officers involved in shootings means there’s little deterrent for law enforcement.
“We don’t want our streets to turn into a war zone with cops firing on a whim, whenever they think it’s dangerous,” Alehashem said. “HPD needs to do a better job of training officers to recognize what really is immediate harm and danger, as opposed to letting them sort of feel it out on a whim.”
Amin Alehashem, director and staff attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project in Houston, says HPD should provide better training for its officers on when to use deadly force. Photo by Johnny Hanson
Union chief cites 'restraint'
Houston is the fourth-largest city in America, with a police force of 5,400 officers. But in some years, Houston police killed more people than law enforcement agencies in more populous cities with much larger police forces.
In 2009, Houston police shot and killed 15 residents, surpassing the 12 killed by New York City police that year and the 12 killed in Los Angeles, where the police force is more than twice as large as Houston’s. Last year, HPD officers killed 11 residents, more than the eight killed by the much larger Chicago police force.
McClelland said in cases where officers mistakenly believe suspects are armed, they can shoot to kill even though the outcome may be tragic. If the officer had a reasonable belief that his life or another’s was in danger, that decision cannot be questioned later by “Monday morning quarterbacking,” the chief said.
For example, of the 10 unarmed suspects HPD police shot and killed in the last five years, three were attempting to break into the officers’ homes.
In another shooting of a suspect from that time frame, HPD officer Henry Canales was shot and killed during an undercover sting in 2009. In a second shooting, a suspected narcotics dealer shot officer Rick Salter in the face in 2009, causing severe injuries that ended his career.
“In a split second, when you’ve got to make a life-or-death decision to save your life, or someone else’s life, you can’t wait until they pull out the gun and fire,” McClelland said. “We go through training scenarios where we have proved ... that a police officer could have a gun out, point it at an assailant, and the assailant could reach, grab a gun from a waistband and pull the trigger before (the officer) could shoot. The reaction time is just that delayed.”
McClelland noted that HPD officers are trained to not employ a Taser against an armed suspect, citing the limited range of the darts that deliver an electric shock. Even though all officers have Tasers, they’re not supposed to use them against anyone who is armed.
Nevertheless, he said HPD officers have used a Taser on armed suspects 96 times since 2008. “We’re certainly glad they didn’t kill a suspect, or they were not killed or injured, but it was certainly against their training to do so,” McClelland said.
Ray Hunt, a veteran of 18 years as a patrol officer and president of the Houston Police Officers’ Union, deemed it “pretty good numbers” that HPD officers on average killed less than one person a month from 2008 to 2012.
“If we are able to respond to thousands of disturbance calls of people with weapons over a year, and we average less than one a month in a (fatal) shooting, I’d say that’s pretty darn good,” Hunt said. “I think it shows extreme restraint by police officers.”
Killed in his wheelchair
No shooting by an HPD officer in recent years has sparked as much outrage as the killing of 45-year-old double amputee Brian Claunch on Sept. 22, 2012.
Claunch, who lost an arm and a leg after he was hit by a train during a suicide attempt, had a long history of schizophrenia and arrests, becoming a ward of the state in February 2003. A judge ruled he was too mentally ill and could no longer care for himself, and he was last placed at a group home in the city’s East End.
His caregivers called 911 around 2 a.m. after Claunch, who was in a wheelchair, became agitated when he was not given a cigarette and a soda.
Two HPD officers, including Matthew Marin, were called to the scene and went into the home. In HPD’s account of that night, Claunch used his wheelchair to block Marin’s partner into the corner of a small bedroom. HPD said Claunch tried to stab the partner with a shiny object.
Marin then shot Claunch once in the head and killed him, according to a medical examiner’s report. The object Claunch was holding turned out to be a ballpoint pen.
A Harris County grand jury decided not to bring criminal charges against Marin in June. Hunt, the police union head, said Marin was justified in using deadly force.
“Anytime an unarmed person is shot by police is extremely unfortunate, but again officers are making split-second decisions on what they’re seeing taking place,” Hunt said.
Civil rights advocates say the shooting reflected poor training.
“The force used, discharging a firearm and shooting someone in the head, is not a reasonable response,” said Alehashem, with the Texas Civil Rights Project. “There should have been some training there to prepare them for the situation and keep them from becoming isolated in a corner with a pen being wielded in one of the officer’s faces.”
Since becoming an officer in September 2007, Marin has had 18 sustained disciplinary complaints, according to an HPD database of internal affairs investigations.
They include complaints for missing court appearances, untruthfulness, improper police procedure, failing to report for duty, misconduct and failure to complete required training.
Before Claunch’s shooting, Marin had been suspended without pay for a week by McClelland for skipping court appearances and not responding to supervisors who wanted to question him about his absences. Marin said he appealed the seven-day suspension, which was overturned by an arbitrator after his union lawyers presented evidence he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder related to a 2009 shooting.
In that incident, Marin fatally shot a knife-wielding man at a Houston apartment complex while responding to a double stabbing. Jose Oseguera fatally stabbed a neighbor who was trying to keep him from attacking Oseguera’s girlfriend and then turned on HPD officers, police said.
In an interview, Marin acknowledged the PTSD diagnosis, adding that he took medication for the condition and stressing his belief that it was not a factor in Claunch’s shooting.
The officer explained that in the dark bedroom of the group home, Claunch was moving his hands so quickly he couldn’t clearly see the object he was wielding.
“I really feel bad for what I had to do, but I was looking out for the safety of my partner,” said Marin, adding he had undergone HPD’s crisis intervention training. “At the time, I did what I thought I had to do to preserve his life.”
On Oct. 24, McClelland announced that an internal affairs investigation found that Marin — who now works in the HPD property room — had not violated any department polices during Claunch’s shooting.
Traffic stop leads to death
Though many HPD shootings involve incidents with gun-wielding suspects, some are more routine.
On Feb. 24, 2010, HPD officer Brenton Green pulled over Steven Guidry, 45, near his home in southwest Houston, after he failed to signal a turn. Police said Guidry refused to get out of his car.
HPD officials said as the officer struggled to arrest Guidry, the suspect “reached into his waistband as if to get a weapon,” and the officer shot the unarmed man in the neck. Guidry was charged with the misdemeanor offense of interference with police duties.
During Guidry’s trial on the charge in November 2010, Green said he shot Guidry as the officer stood outside the car and was attempting to pull the man out of the vehicle, according to court records.
Guidry’s defense attorney, Kirby Taylor, told the Chronicle that the bullet’s trajectory indicated Guidry had been thrown to the ground by the officer, who yanked him out of the car with his gun drawn.
But jurors could not reach a verdict, resulting in a mistrial. Prosecutors have since dismissed the case. Guidry’s attorney acknowledged that his client has a criminal record for theft, forgery and a conviction for evading detention, but said he was not a violent offender.
Taylor believes Green has no place on the force. “If his temper is that bad, I don’t think we need him out there,” he said.
A Harris County grand jury reviewed the shooting and cleared Green of any criminal wrongdoing in September 2010.
A month after the mistrial, Green was the central player in one of Houston’s more publicized encounters between HPD and the public.
During a Dec. 23, 2010 “Midnight Madness” sale at an athletics store, Green used his nightstick during an unprovoked attack on ex-NBA player and University of Houston basketball standout Michael Young, who was making his way through a boisterous crowd with his two sons. Witnesses said the HPD officer hit Young from behind without warning.
Green received a 20-day suspension without pay for misconduct in the Young incident, HPD officials said. The officer has nine other sustained complaints, including causing automobile accidents, failing to complete training and improper police procedure, according to HPD. Green did not return phone calls seeking comment.
'He was walking away'
Guidry was not the only civilian to be shot after a traffic stop.
Ricardo Salazar-Limon, a 28-year-old paint contractor, was pulled over for speeding on the Southwest Freeway a few minutes before midnight on Oct. 29, 2010. Officer Christopher C. Thompson, smelling alcohol on the driver’s breath, called him to the rear of the Toyota pickup he was driving.
According to police, Salazar-Limon became confrontational, then struggled with Thompson and tried to push the officer into moving traffic. Then as Salazar-Limon began to walk away, he reached for his waistband, police said. Thompson, fearing for his safety, shot Salazar-Limon once, HPD officials said at the time. Police acknowledge Salazar-Limon was unarmed.
“The bottom line is: There is no dispute he was walking away, he was facing away. The bullet went into his back,” said Sean Palavan, a Houston attorney who has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city on behalf of the disabled worker.
In an answer to the lawsuit, city attorneys said the HPD officer was carrying out lawful police duties, and his shooting of Salazar-Limon was justified.
Salazar-Limon suffered a spinal cord injury, resulting in the paralysis of his lower body. Today, the young father is training for a new career in computer repair and drives himself to a local gym where he works out to improve his upper body strength.
“The police officer didn’t have the right to do this,” Salazar-Limon said. “I didn’t abuse him. I didn’t insult him. I didn’t try to hit him or do anything against him for him to use that kind of force.”
After he got out of a rehabilitation hospital, police arrested Salazar-Limon on misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest for allegedly pushing the officer with his hand, as well a first-offense misdemeanor DWI. He pleaded no contest to both charges.
A Harris County grand jury reviewed the Salazar-Limon shooting in April 2011 and declined to bring any charges, according to the DA’s office. Thompson could not be reached for comment.
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Calls for accountability
The number of questionable HPD shootings has renewed calls for reforms in how law enforcement is held accountable.
Several organizations, including the Greater Houston Coalition for Justice and the NAACP, are pushing for an independent police review board, with subpoena power and authority to review police misconduct at all agencies in the region.
In Dallas, the Citizens Police Review Board has the power to subpoena witnesses and take complaints and sworn testimony from citizens about police brutality.
Austin operates the Office of Police Monitor, where civilians take down residents’ complaints against police. That city’s monitor provides detailed annual and biannual reports on complaints and then posts all disciplinary actions brought against an officer online.
Critics, including Houston attorney J. Michael Solar, who negotiated a $1.5 million settlement for the parents of shooting victim Eli Escobar Jr., have also questioned the amount of firearms training HPD provides. National and international police organizations such as the International Associations of Chiefs of Police recommend gun handling training at least twice a year but say four times would be preferable.
HPD patrol officers must go to a shooting range once a year and demonstrate they can accurately hit targets. That is the only firearm training required by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.
The yearly firearm qualifications at HPD are much less than the four times a year required by several federal law agencies, including the FBI, as well as the quarterly gun training mandated by Katy police.
McClelland said other HPD divisions such as narcotics and SWAT units have much more frequent and intensive training, including low-light scenarios and high-risk car stops. He also noted that HPD’s campaign to eventually train all officers in crisis intervention for residents with mental problems is delivering twice the amount of training required by the state’s police commission.
HPD spokesman John Cannon said the department, in an effort to save money, has elected not to equip most patrol vehicles with dashboard cameras to record police encounters with the public.
Although HPD’s fleet has 3,984 police vehicles, only 199 are equipped with dashboard-mounted cameras. The majority of the cameras are not in patrol units, but in cruisers devoted to traffic and vehicular crime.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office, with a fleet a fraction the size of HPD’s, has 233 cameras mounted in its patrol vehicles, said deputy Thomas Gilliland.
Cannon said HPD is currently negotiating with contractors to begin a pilot program in December to equip 100 officers with body cameras to record their encounters with the public.
Just last week, cameras mounted in patrol cars played an important role in a North Texas shooting case involving a police officer.
On Monday, a Dallas County grand jury indicted former Garland police officer Patrick Tuter, 33, for manslaughter in the death of a man he fired at 41 times after an August 2012 police chase. Police first said Michael Vincent Allen, who was unarmed, had rammed a police car, but dash camera video showed Tuter’s patrol car crashed into Allen’s truck.
Locally, cameras were critical in the June 24 indictment of a former police officer who shot an unarmed motorist, the first time a grand jury has indicted a police officer in Harris County for shooting a civilian since 2009.
The misdemeanor indictment accuses ex-Pasadena police officer Michael Martin, 44, of official oppression for shooting an unarmed motorist in the face after a DWI stop. Martin has pleaded not guilty.
The July 22, 2011, shooting of Victor A. Hernandez, who was 19 at the time, was recorded on a dashboard camera in Martin’s patrol unit as well as on a gas station surveillance camera. The footage contradicted Martin’s account that Hernandez had made suspicious moves, failed to follow his commands to show his hands, or attempted to run him over, according to Martin’s termination letter from Pasadena Chief Mike Thaler on Jan. 12, 2012.
“That’s why you have to have video cameras in the cars, otherwise the person is going to be dead or it’s going to be some criminal suspect who a jury is not going to be inclined to believe,” said professor Kenneth Williams, a criminal law expert at the South Texas College of Law. “It’s their word against the officer, if you don’t have a camera.”
Paul Aman, Martin’s defense attorney, said there are always “some discrepancies” in an officer’s version of events in the hours immediately after a shooting when the officer has not viewed surveillance footage.
“It was a traffic stop, and Mike Martin felt threatened,” Aman said. “He felt there was an imminent threat against him under those circumstances.”
INTERACTIVES
Click on a location in our interactive map or search our interactive database below to find out details about shootings involving Houston police officers from 2008 to 2012. You can search general information in the drop-downs below or enter a name of a specific officer or civilian.
