is of a case surrounded by controversy: a woman white off-duty police who enters a neighbor his black House without judicial permission or a prior complaint and kills two-shot.
The incident occurred last Thursday in the Texas City of Dallas, but the agent involved was not arrested until Sunday.
Now the Prosecutor’s Office accused her of a crime of manslaughter, rather than intentional killing.
Why the United States police shoot to kill?
“I thought that, in the raised hands, I do not would up and shoot”: the black therapist wounded by police in the U.S. While she cared for a man with autism Amber Guyger agent argues that he entered House of Botham Shem Jean, a man 26 years without a criminal record , by mistake, thinking it was her apartment.
To see the man inside it, he shot, realizing only his mistake when he switched on the light housing.
At the moment, the only version of the facts is based on the statement made by the police officer.
Fatal accident?
According to Guyger, last Thursday after a day of working 15 hours reached his home in an apartment complex.
The door was ajar and enter inside saw, in the midst of the gloom, an elongated shadow that was thought to be a thief who, after yelling twice unless it obeyed him, decided to shoot.
Copyright of the SHEM JEAN/FACEBOOKImage imagenBOTHAM captionJean was described by the Mayor of Dallas as an exemplary citizen. Then he called the emergency telephone, and to turn on the light, discovered that the number on the door of the apartment was not his own, the 1378, but the 1478.
I.e. He was on the floor immediately above yours.
According to the local press, there is a video taken by a neighbor that appears Guyger crying while talking on the phone.
Also in the recording of the 911 call, the number of emergencies, you can be heard while repeatedly apologize to Jean.
However, there are several elements that cast doubt on this account of the facts.
Lawyer Lee Merritt, who represents the relatives of the victim, says version of Guyger that he entered by mistake in a home that was not yours is contradicted by some testimonials.
“There are witnesses who said that before the shooting, they listened to the actor hit the door and repeatedly saying ‘let me go’,” said lawyer The Washington Post.
on the other hand, although the exterior design of the halls of the building is very similar, at the entrance of the apartment of Jean carpet had bright red.
Authorities took in the scene, blood samples from Guyger to verify if the actor was under the influence of alcohol or any other type of substance.
But the controversy goes beyond.
Racism or favoritism relatives of Jean also hired attorney Benjamin Crump, who worked on the cases of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, two unarmed African-American teen who died at the hands of a volunteer neighborhood vigilante and a Agent de police, respectively.
“Copyright of the imagenGETTY IMAGESImage captionEl attorney Benjamin Crump is one of the legal representatives of the family of Jean.” Blacks in the United States have been killed by the police in the most unusual ways”, said Crump on Monday during a press conference.
“You know, to drive a car, being black, walking through our neighborhoods being black… and now we are killing the living in our apartments being black,” he said.
Also raised questions about the way the authorities have handled the case.
Merritt, another lawyer for the Jean family, criticized the fact that Guyger wasn’t immediately arrested on the scene.
“We don’t want anyone to disregard the fact that, if it had been one citizen either, she never would have manage to get from the scene of the crime,” he said.
He also questioned that after ordering his arrest on Sunday, allowing the agent delivered to the authorities in the Kaufman County, a rural place Southeast of Dallas and seclusion in an even more remote jail.
The weekend there were protests citizens against the headquarters of the police in Dallas in claim over what has happened in this case.
Guyger surrendered to authorities on Monday morning but then it was released, after paying a bail of $300,000.
“Copyright of the imagenGETTY IMAGESImage captionEl Mayor of Dallas, Mike Rawlings, promised a transparent investigation into what happened.” Officials have remained silent about the physical and mental state in which was the agent at the time, if he was under the influence of any controlled substance, by what was thought to be Jean apartment his and a trained agent look h Aber so quickly resorted to the use of lethal force,”pointed out the Washington Post.
Beyond U.S.
But the impact of this case exceeds the borders of the United States.
Jean was born and grew up on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, where his mother worked in the Government and whose citizenship still holds.
During the press conference, the lawyers of the family were accompanied by the Prime Minister of that country, Allen Chastanet.
Copyright of the imagenGETTY IMAGESImage first captionEl Jean.Jean lawyers accompanied Minister of Santa Lucia, Allen Chastanet, graduated from a University of Arkansas and was working at the international consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), company that he described what happened as “a terrible tragedy”.
The young, 26 years old, was known to be a religious man who participated in the activities of their local church.
The Mayor of Dallas, Mike Rawlings, described Jean as “an exemplary citizen” and promised a transparent investigation of the case.
They are to see their results.
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