Dallas police officer accused in neighbor’s death fired
DALLAS — A white police officer accused of fatally shooting her black neighbor inside his own apartment was fired Monday for being arrested for manslaughter in the slaying, the Dallas Police Department said.
Police Chief U. Renee Hall dismissed Officer Amber Guyger during a hearing Monday, according to the statement posted on Twitter.
Guyger is charged with manslaughter in the Sept. 6 shooting that left 26-year-old Botham Jean dead. Court records show Guyger said she thought she had encountered a burglar inside her own home. She turned herself in three days later, and is currently out on bond.
“An Internal Affairs investigation concluded that on September 9, 2018, Officer Guyger #10702, engaged in adverse conduct when she was arrested for Manslaughter,” the statement said. It doesn’t explain what “adverse conduct” means.
Later, Dallas police spokesman Sgt. Warren Mitchell said in a written response that adverse conduct is “conduct which adversely affects the moral or efficiency of the Department or which has a tendency to adversely affect, lower, destroy public respect and confidence in the Department or officer.” When an officer has been arrested for a crime, adverse conduct is often cited in the officer’s termination, he said.
Attorneys for Jean’s family, along with protesters, have been calling for Guyger, a four-year veteran of the force, to be fired since the shooting. The family’s attorneys released a statement saying they see the termination as an initial victory.
“However, we are committed to seeing through the next steps of the process of a proper murder indictment, conviction and appropriate sentencing,” the statement said.