Bellaire officer shot man because he's black

Bellaire officer shot man because he's black

Police accused of racial profiling in incident that left 23-year-old hospital



During a news conference on the case Wednesday, a photograph of victim Robert Tolan sits outside his family home, where he was shot.






A mistaken police dispatch about a stolen car led to an early morning shooting on Wednesday of a Bellaire man in his own driveway and a demand by his lawyers that the officer who shot him be brought up on criminal charges.


Attorneys for Robert Tolan, 23, said he was a victim of racial profiling by Bellaire police and did nothing to justify being shot as his parents watched outside their home.
"We want the district attorney to charge this officer," said Geoffrey Berg. "There can't be an explanation that can justify what the police did to this kid."
Family members said Tolan and his cousin were lying on the walkway near his parents' front door around 2 a.m. when Tolan looked up to protest officers' treatment of his mother, who had been drawn outside by the commotion. He was then shot once by Bellaire police Sgt. Jeff Cotton. At least two other shots missed.
Tolan, a former Bellaire High School baseball standout and the son of former major league player Bobby Tolan, was taken to Ben Taub General Hospital. He is expected to recover.
David Berg, another family attorney, said race likely played a role in the shooting. Tolan is black, Cotton is white.
"There's no doubt in my mind that if these had been two white kids, they never would have been shot," David Berg said.
The shooting took place after Robert Tolan and his cousin Anthony Cooper returned from a fast-food stop.
Bobby Tolan said his son was pursuing a professional baseball career and has never had any trouble with Bellaire police. He said his family has lived in the modest home in the 800 block of Woodstock since 1994.
"It's very unfortunate what happened," he said of the incident, declining extended comment. "The Bellaire Police Department know what they did."
Cotton, a 10-year veteran of the department, has been put on administrative leave pending an investigation by the Harris County District Attorney's Office, said Bellaire Assistant City Manager Diane K. White.
Cotton answered the door of his northwest Harris County home Wednesday evening, but declined to comment on the incident.
The shooting took place after Robert Tolan and his cousin Anthony Cooper returned from a nearby Jack-In-The-Box restaurant where Tolan works and pulled into the driveway of the Tolans' home.
A Bellaire police patrol car raced up as Tolan and Cooper got out of the 2004 Nissan Xterra and walked toward the front door. Family members said a Bellaire police sergeant and a backup officer ordered both men to the ground.
"They're in the driveway and (a Bellaire police officer) gets out of the car yelling, 'Stop. Stop,' " said Tolan's uncle, Mike Morris. "They didn't know who it was because the spotlight was on them."
The two men did as instructed, family attorneys said, insisting there was no argument or confrontation.
"They immediately complied," Geoffrey Berg said. "They weren't drunk or belligerent."

Stolen car report wrong

When Tolan's parents came outside, police told them the vehicle had been reported stolen. Marian Tolan, his mother, assured them it was not.
"My sister was telling them, it was not a stolen vehicle, 'It's ours,' " said Tammy Morris.
White said later Wednesday that a patrol officer checked the SUV's plates as a routine matter and was informed that the vehicle had been stolen. Officials were still trying to determine why the erroneous information was disseminated, she said.
Family members said one of the officers pushed Tolan's mother up against a wall. That prompted her son to raise slightly and complain about the treatment she was receiving.
"That's when the (sergeant) shot him," Tammy Morris said.
White confirmed that the shooting happened when the officer thought Tolan was trying to get to his feet. Police said Cotton fired several times, with two of the bullets striking the Tolan home. They later confirmed that neither Tolan nor Cooper was carrying a weapon.

Assistant Bellaire Police Chief Byron Holloway called the shooting "tragic." "Anytime someone is injured, we take it very seriously," Holloway said. "As far any allegations of racial profiling, I'd probably say that's not going to float."
While Tasers are standard equipment for the department, Holloway didn't know why the sergeant opted to use a firearm instead.
"I can't speak to the officer's decision-making process and to what thoughts were going through his head at the time," the assistant chief said.
Holloway said an altercation at the scene led to the shooting. Family members insisted otherwise, saying that Tolan only raised up slightly to ask officers not to push his mother.
Holloway said several car burglaries were reported in the area Tuesday night, but didn't know what prompted the officers to mistakenly conclude Tolan was in a stolen vehicle.
"I don't know if they followed it. I don't know if they were driving through the area, checking on vehicles they didn't recognize," Holloway said. "I don't know what called their attention to it. All that will be determined in the investigation."
Bellaire police routinely patrol residential areas and the city's business districts, especially late at night and in the early morning hours.
"You check for suspicious vehicles or vehicles you don't recognize," Holloway said. "That's just basic patrol tactics."
Bobby Tolan played for the Cincinnati Reds and other baseball teams from the mid-60s to late '70s. He and his wife were relieved their son's wounds don't appear life-threatening.
"She's very upset," he said. "We could have lost our son."
Cotton, 39, joined the Bellaire Police Department in September 1998. Before that, he worked for seven months as an officer with the Pasadena City Marshal's Office, according to state records. He has an advanced peace officer rating with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education, the state's licensing agency for law enforcement officers.
Cotton also is certified as a mental health officer and crime prevention inspector, according to state records. He has taken a variety of law enforcement training courses, including classes in cultural diversity a month ago and in March 2006, May 2005, August 2001, May 1999 and August 1997.
State records also show he received four credit hours in May 2003 after a training class about racial profiling.
Cotton has no public complaints filed against him. The only blemish on his record is a written reprimand for a past auto accident, Holloway said.
"That's the extent of it. He's got quite a few letters of commendations (and positive) letters from citizens," Holloway said.
That's small comfort to Tolan's family.
"An officer sees two black youngsters get out in a white neighborhood and he approaches them," Mike Morris said. "I don't understand it. I'm upset about it."

The shooting stirred memories of a similar incident in 1995, when an unarmed 17-year-old suspect was shot in the back by a Bellaire officer as he lay on the floor. Travis Allen was acting erratically when he was arrested in a home near a party he was attending. Allen was on the floor with one officer's foot on his back when the fatal shots were fired. Police said the youth reached for his pants pockets, which they may interpret as a life-threatening action. The police department was hit with protests by Allen's friends and family members, but a grand jury declined to indict the officer who shot him.
A spokeswoman for the Harris County District Attorney's Office declined to comment on Wednesday's shooting because it is a pending investigation.
Assistant District Attorney Donna Hawkins said the case could be put in front of a grand jury in three or four months to determine what, if any, charges should be filed.

 

Damn man. The shit in Oakland just happened a few days ago, now this. At least this guy lived.

 

Another one in Houstin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSbjc7x70UQ&feature=related