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.”