Decision to fire deputy reversed
Officer reinstated two years after killing an unarmed man
A local law enforcement commission voted Tuesday to restore the employment of a former Harris County deputy who fatally shot an unarmed Black man in 2018, a case that garnered national attention after video emerged showing the 34-yearold wandering the street with his pants around his ankles just seconds before being killed.
The Sheriff’s Civil Service Commission’s decision comes almost one year after a jury found the ex-deputy, Cameron Brewer, not guilty of aggravated assault by a public servant in the death of Danny Ray Thomas .
Brewer was fired in April 2018 for failing to follow the Harris County Sheriff’s Office’s use of force policy in the March 22, 2018, deadly shooting.
Jason Spencer, sheriff ’s office spokesman, on Tuesday again defended the termination.
“The Harris County Sheriff’s Office stands behind its decision in this case,” he said. “We are unable to comment further on this personnel matter at this time.”
The commission holds hearings on deputies’ terminations and demotions and votes to either uphold those or reverse them — a practice that reformers have criticized since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. It’s unclear when or whether Brewer will actually return to work.
Witnesses told police that Thomas was walking in the middle of an intersection in Greenspoint, talking to himself and hitting vehicles as they passed.
Thomas hit one car, leading the driver to get out and engage in a physical altercation. Brewer stopped his car and issued verbal commands to Thomas, who “continued to advance” toward
him, according to the Houston Police Department, which led the investigation because it occurred in city limits. He
shot Thomas once in the chest, police said.
Jurors in August 2019 determined that Brewer didn’t commit aggravated assault by a public servant in the killing.
Brewer suspected that Thomas was high on PCP
and feared for his life based on a previous, separate encounter with a suspect who didn’t respond to the lesslethal Taser, according to his defense.
The deputy, who is Black, was indicted by a grand jury in October 2018, marking the first time in 15 years that Harris County prosecutors had secured an indictment on a peace officer for an on-duty fatal shooting.