Bellaire police killing video released 5 years after trial

Harlem Lewis was sentenced to die in 2014 after prosecutors and his defense team argued about how he fatally shot a veteran Bellaire Police officer and a good Samaritan during a traffic stop in broad daylight on Christmas Eve 2012.

And now, five years after the trial, an open records lawsuit involving the Houston Chronicle has been settled, allowing much of the officer’s dash camera video that was shown in court to be released.

The suit was between the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, which has argued for years that the police video was not public information, and the Texas Attorney General’s Office, which said that it was.

The Jan. 22 settlement allowed the release of an edited copy of the video that ends seconds before Lewis was caught on tape shooting Bellaire Police Cpl. Jimmy Norman, 53, and Terry Taylor, a 66-year-old body shop owner who tried to help the officer.

Lewis testified his gun accidentally discharged as he brandished it.

“(Under current law), the City must withhold the portions of the dashcam video which depict the deaths of the victims or show images of the dying or deceased victims,” the settlement states. “The parties agree that the remainder of the video, including the portion documenting the high-speed chase, will be released to the requesters.”

The video shows Lewis, then 23, being pulled over once, then fleeing, then stopping at Taylor’s shop. Officer Norman can be seen struggling to get Lewis out of his black sedan and Taylor, in a red shirt, looking on.

The complete video that was shown in court showed Norman falling backward out of the vehicle after being shot in the head, and Lewis standing up, firing wildly at Taylor, who was mortally wounded and fell behind the car. It also shows Lewis pointing his gun at a man who was driving a white pickup that Lewis rearended during the chase.

Other officers fired at Lewis, who was hit twice and fled on foot. He was found nearby hiding under a parked truck.

Lewis was found guilty in a case prosecuted by then-District Attorney Devon Anderson and assistant Anna Emmons. Defense attorneys Pat McCann and Tyrone Moncriffe argued that Lewis panicked when he was being pulled over because he had been raised to fear police.