Dallas Police officer fired for adverse conduct
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was fired Monday, officials said, weeks after a racially-charged shooting in which the off-duty white cop killed her black neighbor, Botham Jean.
An investigation determined Guyger “engaged in adverse conduct when she was arrested for manslaughter,” Dallas police Chief Renee Hall said in a statement, adding Guyger may appeal her termination.
Guyger was arrested on a manslaughter charge after she shot and killed Jean earlier this month. An arrest affidavit obtained by Fox News said Botham allegedly ignored Guyger’s “verbal commands” before she opened fire.
Guyger had recently ended a 15-hour shift when she returned in uniform to the South Side Flats apartment complex. She parked on the fourth floor, instead of the third, where she lived, according to an affidavit filed for the officer’s arrest warrant, possibly suggesting she was confused or disoriented at the time of the shooting.
When she turned on the lights, she realized she was in the wrong unit, according to the document, which appeared to be based almost entirely upon the officer’s account.
Jean’s family disputes Guyger's version of events. Lawyers for Jean’s family also questioned why it took three days for Guyger to be charged and why Guyger was so quick to use deadly force in her encounter with Jean.
Lee Merritt, an attorney for Jean’s family, also slammed the investigation into the shooting, saying officials were seeking evidence to discredit Jean.
Police executed multiple search warrants at Botham Jean’s apartment in the aftermath of the killing, and investigators said they found several items, including a small amount of marijuana, FOX4 News reported.
Merritt said the search “highlights just sort of the nefarious nature of [the police] investigation.”
“They went in with the intent to look for some sort of criminal justification for the victim,” Merritt said, according to USA Today . “It's a pattern that we've seen before...we have a cop who clearly did something wrong. And instead of investigating the homicide — instead of going into her apartment and seeing what they can find, instead of collecting evidence relevant for the homicide investigation — they went out specifically looking for ways to tarnish the image of this young man.”
Fox News’ Katherine Lam and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Well it will be interesting to see what an arbitrator decides. But it is probably the best move the chief could make. Hopefully this will change the on-duty work time policies.
Why do they need a search warrant for an active crime scene? Seems like they are trying to cover their bases, maybe for protection for themselves. I don't care if they found the victim with a heroin needle in his arm, there is zero justification for this. The fact that she is trying to get her job back and thinks it is all ok should ring major alarm bells.
Note to people, lock your door.
Here we had a woman cop that took her very young daughter with her in her police cruiser, to her lovers house. She left her daughter in the cruiser alone while she had her tryst. The poor child died in the car.
The investigation possibly turned up something in the apartment that could be used to attack the victim'scredibilityy andf turn the publc support for her, even after she was in the wrongg apartment and then killed the homeowner. Apparently in the minds of many cops can't possibly commit crimes because of the fact that they wear a badge. I saw someone claim that he refused to obey her commands and that uis why she shot and killed him.
When will she be charged for his murder?
Did they blame the daughter for unauthorized conduct in a cruiser?
you are correct the police did try to change the narrative with attempting to blame the apartment owner. And she is charged with manslaughter.
And i am not familiar enough with lovers/ daughter part of this situation but in the end. she set herself up to fail because she decided to not do the right thing by determining the threat level. by asking the right questions and verifying the threat was real.
As far as some folks, well those folks i wish could have some of the same experiences they disregard because there response to this would be clearly different. And yet those folks would be screaming from the roof tops if any thing close happened to them that happens to some of there fellow citizens everyday.
its sad all the way around.
When prosecutors think they can establish intent.
she has been charged.
She was charged with manslaughter several days ago. Has it been upgraded to murder?
The lawyers do not have the establish positive intent to commit a crime. Her actions were criminally negligent when she didn't make sure that she was in her own apartment and not that of another person before she pulled the trigger. She doesn't seem to understand that as a private person she cannot act in the same way that she does on-duty. Shooting first and asking questions later is not tolerated when she is off-duty and the situation isn't duty related.
Her actions took the life of an innocent person just as the same as a drunk driver kills someone, even when they didn't intend to do so. The fact that she was a cop doesn't allow her to act in that manner.
You said murder. Murder requires intent. Otherwise it's manslaughter.
I'd agree with that. That doesn't make it murder.
Have you spoken with her? Why do you think you know what she understands?
I'm pretty sure it's not actually tolerated on duty, either. cj can speak to that better than I.
Right. That's a manslaughter.
I'm not aware of anyone, including her, suggesting it does. What have I missed?
Killing in the heat of passion/the moment is emotional does not require prior intent. Having prior intent to kill is 1st-degree murder.
She did shoot him twice in the chest so it wasn't a defensive shot and she fired twice.
That is what I was taught when I got training to be a reserve deputy. One or two in the center of mass and one to the head in case the bad guy is wearing a vest.
I didn't say "prior" intent. It requires intent.
Sometimes. Depends on the extent of the "prior".
If she thought it was her apartment, and she mistook him for an intruder, then it's certainly plausible that it was a defensive action. Had she intended to kill him she might not have stopped at two shots.
It's important to remember that prosecutors are going to want very much to avoid an acquittal. A great way to lose a case is to overdo the charges.
It doesn't matter what she took him for when she was in the wrong apartment. She was the intruder, despite any emotional arguments to the contrary.
If he wasn't dead we would know what he said and did when she barged into his apartment, before she shot him in the chest for being in his own apartment. Maybe she should claim self-defense for her actions as an armed intruder. The jury will be amused.
That does not establish intent.
If he wasn't dead, we wouldn't be talking about manslaughter vs. murder.
Is she? I hadn't seen that. On what grounds can she possibly think she should be rehired?
Interesting.
It doesn't actually say she's trying to get her job back, just that she was fired before they finished the investigation. Which is fair enough, I guess.
Her lawyer is saying it was unfair.
Well that's his job, though. Of course he's going to say that. He's going to be dredging up sympathy for her wherever he can find it.
It doesn't say they've filed a motion or sought an injunction or anything.
The police union aren't backing her so it appears that she is SOL. Her lawyer should focus on his legal defense of her instead of trying to claim that she was fired unfairly.
I'm sure he's doing both.
It certainly doesn't look good for her. But hell, if OJ can get an acquittal, there is no telling.
He was black, an immigrant with a bit of weed in his apartment. She is white and a cop, so in the eyes of many people he deserved it.
I haven't heard anybody say that.
The trial hasn't started yet. We have yet to hear what her defense will be.
"There was a black guy in my apartment!"
Or he was high on weed and refused her order to leave.................
The Castle Doctrine protects me even when I shoot someone in their apartment.
It's emotionally impossible for her to divorce herself from the job so she was acting as a cop when she shot him. He was high and resisted arrest......
Maybe she will claim extreme emotional disturbance because she had a bad day.
I usually keep the front door unlocked just in case a disoriented woman might wander in but it looks like I'll have to rethink that strategy.
They will blame him for not locking the door and therefore inviting her in. He was asking for it because he didn't lock the door.
I shouldn't have to mention the possible immigrant angle in conservative Texas.
The entire case seems bizarre. Do we even know if the door was locked or how she got in? Was she too inebriated to think an unlocked door was strange?
This is why I live in the countryside - I only need to worry about mice and coyotes wandering in.
Something is fishy. The door was unlocked and the apartment was dark so how was she able to shoot him twice in the chest in a dark room while he was watching football on the TV. Why would you break into to an apartment and they casually watch football on the TV? He's dead so we only get her side of the story.
But other witnesses are saying this.........
well i would be interested if the did a breathalyzer on her. i haven't noticed in the reports on this story if they did. If she was intoxicated that might have been a courtesy on why they didn't take her to jail that night.
humm