The release of the video comes two days after armed protester Garrett Foster was shot and killed by an unnamed, armed driver while protesting police brutality in Austin.
The Austin Police Department released video footage Monday of the fatal police shooting of Mike Ramos, an unarmed Black and Latino man who was killed as he pulled out of a parking space in April after officers first shot him with “less-lethal” munition.
An attorney for Ramos’ mother and Austin-area activists say the videos show the shooting was not justified.
Ramos’ name has become a rallying cry in Texas during the ongoing protests against police brutality and racial injustice that followed George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis. The videos show Ramos pulling out of the parking spot before turning right and stopping as officers follow the car, pointing their rifles toward the driver’s side of the vehicle. The release of the footage spurred protestors to gather at Austin police headquarters Monday night, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
“The first thing that stuck out to me is what I did not see and that was any justification for the shooting. That is glaringly absent from the video,”
attorney Scott Hendler told Austin radio station KUT.
“What’s clear is that there’s nothing Mike Ramos did to justify Officer [Christopher] Taylor opening fire and killing him.”
Attorneys for Christopher Taylor, the officer who shot and killed Ramos, said that based on their perceptions of the officers’ reactions, law enforcement was “in fear that Mr. Ramos’ vehicle was going to put them in danger.” An Austin Police Department report said that Ramos intended to use the moving vehicle as a deadly weapon and Taylor was justified in shooting him as a result.
“At the moment Mr. Ramos sort of drives forward shows that we believe they believed they were in fear of serious bodily injury or death or something along those lines,” said Ken Ervin, one of Taylor’s attorneys.
Ramos’ death brought out tensions that have long plagued the state’s capital, a place that is recognized for its moments of progressivism yet has deep-rooted racial biases.
The release of the videos depicting Ramos’ death comes two days after the death of Garrett Foster, an armed white demonstrator who was protesting police brutality in downtown Austin when an unnamed, armed driver shot and killed him, according to The New York Times. The shooter in that incident has cooperated with police and was released, according to the Austin American-Statesman. Austin police did not answer The Texas Tribune’s questions about that shooting Monday.
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