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Lawyer:
Cop who
shot
Texas
woman
knew she
was
mentally
ill
APNews.com
HOUSTON
- A
Houston-area
police
officer
knew his
neighbor
suffered
from
mental
illness
and
should
have
offered
assistance
when
that was
apparent,
but
instead
he
fatally
shot the
44-year-old
woman, a
lawyer
for the
victim’s
family
said
Thursday.
Pamela
Turner
had
struggled
with
paranoid
schizophrenia
since
her
diagnosis
in 2005,
and may
have
been in
crisis
the
night
she was
killed,
attorney
Ben
Crump
said
during a
press
conference.
Turner
was shot
by a
Baytown
police
officer
Monday
night in
the
parking
lot of
her
apartment
complex
following
a
struggle
that a
bystander
captured
on
video.
The
city’s
police
have
said the
Hispanic
officer
shot the
African
American
woman
during
an
attempted
arrest
after
she
shocked
him with
his
Taser.
A
spokesman
for the
police
department
in
Baytown,
a city
of more
than
75,000
people,
did not
answer
phone
calls or
respond
to
emailed
questions
Thursday.
Turner’s
family
portrayed
the
officer
— who
police
have not
identified
by name
— as the
aggressor,
saying
Thursday
that he
approached
her as
she
headed
to her
home in
the same
apartment
complex
where
the
officer
lived.
“She
was a
lady who
had
mental
health
issues.
What she
needed
was a
helping
hand
from the
police
officer.
Instead
she got
five
bullets,”
Crump
said.
Chelsie
Rubin,
Turner’s
daughter,
said she
asked a
Baytown
police
officer
after
the
shooting
if the
department
was
aware of
her
mother’s
illness
and was
told
they
were.
Turner
was not
a
“weirdo”
because
of her
illness
and most
of the
time she
was just
like
everybody
else,
her
daughter
said.
“My
mom is
not a
horrible
person.
She’s so
loving.
She’s so
caring.
She did
anything
she
could
for us,”
said
Rubin,
who gave
birth to
her
second
child
days
before
her
mother
was
shot.
In
the
video of
the
shooting,
which
was
posted
on
social
media,
Turner
is heard
saying
“You’re
actually
harassing
me” and
“I’m
actually
walking
to my
house”
to the
officer
as he
tries to
arrest
her. The
pair can
be seen
struggling
and
Turner
falls to
the
ground.
They
continue
to
scuffle
and she
says,
“Why?
Why?”
and then
“I’m
pregnant.”
Moments
later,
something
flashes
as
Turner
reaches
her arm
out
toward
the
officer.
Suddenly,
he pulls
away
from
her,
steps
back and
fires
five
gunshots.
Police
have
said
that
autopsy
results
show
Turner
was not
pregnant,
but the
autopsy
report
has not
been
released.
Crump
said the
family
is
having
its own
autopsy
done to
determine
the
truth.
He also
suggested
Turner
might
have
claimed
to be
pregnant
to due
to
confusion
brought
on by
her
mental
illness
and her
daughter’s
recent
delivery.
Or, he
said,
she
might
have
said it
because
she was
afraid
for her
life.
“They
keep
saying .
that she
got what
she
deserved
because
(the
officer)
felt in
fear for
his
life,”
said
Crump.
“Well,
why
can’t we
use the
same
reasoning
to apply
to her?
It’s not
a far
stretch
here in
Texas
for an
unarmed
black
woman to
believe
that the
police
officer
will
kill
you.”
Police
Lt.
Steve
Dorris
previously
said the
officer
tried to
arrest
Turner
because
he knew
there
were
outstanding
warrants
against
her and
that he
immediately
attempted
to help
her
after
the
shooting.
Harris
County
court
records
show
there
were
three
outstanding
misdemeanor
warrants
against
Turner.
She
was
accused
of
criminal
mischief
and
assault
on April
25 after
a
physical
confrontation
with a
manager
at her
apartment
complex
over an
eviction
notice,
and she
was
accused
of
criminal
mischief
for
damaging
a
woman’s
car on
May 2
and
ordered
to
undergo
a mental
health
evaluation.
The
order
cites
“credible
information”
that
Turner
suffered
from
mental
illness.
The
Harris
County
Medical
Examiner’s
office
ruled
Turner’s
death a
homicide
Wednesday,
and
Baytown
Police
Chief
Keith
Dougherty
announced
he’d
called
in the
Texas
Rangers
to
handle
the
criminal
investigation
along
with the
district
attorney’s
office.
The
Harris
County
District
Attorney’s
office
sent
civil
rights
investigators
to the
scene of
Turner’s
shooting
Monday
and will
present
all the
evidence
to a
grand
jury,
spokesman
Dane
Schiller
said.
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