JUDGE RULES COP WHO KILLED UNARMED 14-YR-OLD BOY HIDING IN A WOODSHED AFTER A FISTFIGHT ‘MAY HAVE USED EXCESSIVE FORCE’

JUDGE RULES COP WHO KILLED UNARMED 14-YR-OLD BOY HIDING IN A WOODSHED AFTER A FISTFIGHT ‘MAY HAVE USED EXCESSIVE FORCE’

U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez ruled on Friday that a police officer who works for a Texas school district “may have used excessive force” when he fatally shot an unarmed teenager who fled the scene of a fistfight. Denys Lopez Moreno sued Officer Daniel Alvarado, Police Chief John Page and the Northside Independent School District in September 2011 for the death of her son, Derek Lopez, who was 14-years-old. On November 12, 2010, Derek Lopez allegedly exited a school bus and, in Alvarado’s view, punched another student. Lopez, ignoring Alvarado’s order to freeze, fled the scene while the school officer followed him in a patrol car.
Lopez hid in a shed on the property of a nearby home according to the complaint. Alvarado drove back to the scene of the fight but would not give up searching for the 14-year-old boy. “Ignoring his supervisor’s orders to ‘stay with the victim and get the information from him,’ Alvarado placed the second boy into the patrol car and sped into the neighborhood to search for Derek,” the complaint reads. Local homeowners apparently directed Alvarado to the shed where Lopez was hiding.
“Ignoring his supervisor’s orders to ‘stay with the victim and get the information from him,’ Alvarado placed the second boy into the patrol car and sped into the neighborhood to search for Derek,” the complaint reads. Moreno points out Alvarado had a history of ignoring orders.
“In approximately a four (4) year period leading up to the shooting, defendant Alvarado had been reprimanded sixteen (16) times,” according to the complaint. “Specifically, he had been reprimanded for insubordination and failure to follow supervisors’ directives seven (7) times. Due to his poor service record, Alvarado was suspended without pay on five (5) occasions. On May 21, 2008, Alvarado was recommended for termination by Page. Despite being recommended for termination for insubordination and for refusal to follow supervisor directives, Alvarado remained on the force without remedial training.”
U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez refused to dismiss the claims of excessive force and negligence against Alvarado.
“In this case Alvarado testified that he saw an individual (later identified as Derek) strike another (later identified as Chris Avilez) about three times at a bus stop,” the order states. “He testified that he thought a misdemeanor assault had taken place. He placed the victim in his patrol car. A fact issue exists as to whether Alvarado was able to determine Derek’s age and the age of the victim, while that person was in his patrol car. When Alvarado arrived at the house where the shed was located, Alvarado testified that Derek posed no threat to the homeowner; that if he thought Derek was violent it would have been prudent for him to wait for backup; that at the moment he unholstered his weapon Derek posed no threat to him; and he drew his weapon because he thought that Derek could pose a threat by using some object in the shed as a weapon. Alvarado testified that at no time did he see Derek with any gun or knife. Alvarado further testified that after the shed door hit his face, he ‘felt that [Derek] was coming after me, so I – I took the shot.’ Alvarado never saw Derek grab for any weapon.”
“An officer cannot use deadly force without an immediate serious threat to himself or others. Here, genuine issues of material fact exist as to whether there was such an immediate threat.”