Trial Begins for White Temple Cop Who Murdered Michael Dean by Shooting the Unarmed Black Man During Traffic Stop. Same Cop Murdered a Black Teen by Running Him Over and Leaving the Car On Top of Him

From [HERE] The trial for Temple Police officer Carmen DeCruz began Monday, after a motion was denied to have the trial pushed back, again. DeCruz was a white cop at the time of the murder.

Twelve will serve as jurors who ultimately decide DeCruz’s fate while the other two serve as alternates.DeCruz is charged with second degree manslaughter for the shooting death of Michael Dean, 28, in Temple in 2019. Dean was Black.

The jury is apparently overwhelmingly white. The media has been describing it as “made up of 1 Black man, 1 mixed-race woman and 12 other people who are white and/or other races.” BW takes this to mean 2 non-white people and 12 whites. Only racists get finicky like that about classifications they created in the first place when they are attempting to conceal or deceive. What “other races?”

DeCruz is accused of shooting Dean during a traffic stop. A police affidavit states DeCruz shot Dean in the head while reaching in Dean's vehicle to grab his keys. Dean was unarmed - no weapon was in the car.

DeCruz was seen on body camera video walking in front of his patrol vehicle during a traffic stop with his handgun drawn. DeCruz made contact with Dean on the passenger side of the car and ordered Dean to turn off the vehicle and give him the keys, according to the affidavit.

DeCruz is seen reaching into the vehicle in an attempt to gain control of the keys with his left hand while holding his firearm in his right hand. DeCruz had the gun pointed at Dean with his finger on the trigger, according to the affidavit.

While DeCruz pulled the keys with his left hand, his right hand also pulled backward and caused the handgun to fire, striking Michael dean in the head, the affidavit said.

Dean was pronounced dead at the scene.

This footage has not been released to the public, and it's something the community closest to the Dean family wishes would be available.

Further complicating matters is DeCruz’s violent past as a police officer. He was named in an excessive force lawsuit for his actions surrounding the apprehension of a teenage suspect in 2017. DeCruz and his partner at the time were accused of intentionally running over a 15-year-old boy and leaving him under their squad car while it idled for 10 minutes and burned the 15-year-old boy’s body. The teenager’s mother filed the lawsuit that specifically named DeCruz and blamed him and his partner for third-degree burns to her son’s “torso, thighs and pelvis while pinned beneath the running vehicle.” [MORE]

"We want to take this delicately to figure out how the city got in this position in the first place," Gary Smith, a member of the Temple NAACP, said.

Smith added that they (NAACP) feel not everything has been made public for the reason of hiding certain facts about the case.

"You see these other instances in America where Black men are shot and the footage from the body camera is shared allover social media," he added.

Six News legal analyst, Liz Mitchell, said because this is an ongoing trial, the footage cannot be shared with the public.

She added that sharing the footage outside of the court room could mess with jury selection.

"It would be even more difficult to find 12 and impartial jurors if the key piece of evidence has already been released to the public," she said.

Mitchell said "key piece of evidence" because she believes the body cam footage is what will prove DeCruz committed manslaughter and not murder.

According to Mitchell, if DeCruz had the intent to murder and cause bodily harm, then he committed murder. But if the state can prove he was reckless in some way, then it's manslaughter.

All the community is asking for now is that justice be brought to the Dean family and all those impacted by this tragedy.

"It could have been anyone's brother, anyone's father, anyone's son and that is why we want accountability," Alexxis McBride, a member of the Temple NAACP said.