Verdict brings new hope
Floyd case heartens family of woman fatally shot in 2019 by Baytown officer
It felt like a load was lifted from her shoulders, Antoinette Dorsey-James said, when a Minneapolis judge read the guilty verdict against former police officer Derrick Chauvin.
A year before George Floyd’s murder, the 56-year-old woman laid to rest her younger sister, Pamela Turner, who was shot dead by a Baytown police officer. Dorsey-James said she shares the Floyd family’s pain and rejoiced in their Tuesday afternoon courtroom victory as if it were her own.
“I finally got a little excitement after the verdict in the George Floyd case that we do have hope,” she said.
The Baytown case garnered re
newed attention this week when, in the moments after the Chauvin verdict, civil rights attorney Ben Crump said he was planning a march for justice for Black women, including Turner. He echoed comments he made earlier this month when announcing a civil suit against Baytown police officer Juan Delacruz, who has been indicted in Turner’s death on a charge of aggravated assault by a public servant.
“If you were outraged when you saw the video of how George Floyd was tragically killed in Minnesota, then you should be equally outraged when you see the video of how Pam Turner, an unarmed black woman, was tragically killed by the Baytown police officer,” Crump said when he announced the lawsuit.
Delacruz shot Turner on May 23, 2019, while attempting to arrest her in the parking lot of her apartment complex on several outstanding misdemeanor warrants. Police said Delacruz shot Turner after she threatened the officer with his Taser. The woman’s attorneys have disputed that account, saying the Taser was incapable of firing darts because the officer had already discharged the single-use weapon.
The national debate surrounding police reform has ramped up on the heels of Chauvin’s conviction, with President Joe Biden, Democratic lawmakers and advocates pushing for the U.S. Senate to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act as police shootings keep happening. While the nation waited for the verdict in Floyd’s murder, police in Ohio shot and killed Ma’Khia Bryant, a 16-yearold Black girl.
“We must keep advocating for JUSTICE for our Black Queens!” Crump wrote Thursday in a Tweet about Turner’s case.
History shows that it is rare for police officers to be charged in onduty shootings or acts of violence — and even rarer for those officers to be convicted, said Teri Ravenell, a Villanova University law professor and expert on municipal liability.
Chauvin’s conviction does not set a binding legal precedent, Ravenell said. Criminal convictions depend on the facts of each individual case.
“(But) it suggests that there has been a shift — that there’s a willingness to prosecute police officers, that there was a willingness for police officers to testify against another police officer and that there was a conviction,” she said. “All of that suggests that there’s a change in the landscape that bodes well for future cases.”
Ravenell said she thinks more police officers will be charged as more incidents are captured by body cameras or cellphones and spread on social media. Videos make the facts of a case harder to refute in court. Additionally, public sentiment could have an impact on elected prosecutors, she said.
With the second anniversary of Turner’s death nearing, the renewed focus and the Chauvin conviction offered the family a boost of energy amid the depression and worry, Dorsey-James said.
“I’m prepared and ready to go stand in Baytown in front of the police department and rally for my sister’s life, for her justice,” she said.
The march is scheduled for May 13 at the Baytown Police Department. Demonstrators will protest the indicted officer’s continued employment, said Chelsie Rubin, Turner’s daughter. Delacruz was suspended without pay but remains employed by the department, according to attorneys.
“It’s a slap in the face,” Rubin, 23, said.
The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The family filed a civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas against Baytown, Delacruz and Cypress Point Equity Partners, the apartment management company.
Crump and Turner’s family members on April 8 announced the legal action on the steps of the Harris County courthouse, surrounded by advocates and other families affected by police shootings, including Tamika Palmer, the mother of Breonna Taylor.
The suit alleges that Delacruz and apartment management repeatedly harassed Turner, a 44year-old mother diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and that Delacruz used excessive force and caused Turner’s wrongful death.
In a grainy cellphone video of the incident, Turner asks why the officer is harassing her.
During a physical struggle, Delacruz discharged his Taser and moments later fired at least five shots that struck Turner in the face, chest and abdomen. The officer appeared to be in close range when he shot Turner, who was on the ground, the video shows.
Greg Cagle, the officer’s attorney, said Delacruz shot Turner because she used the officer’s Taser against him.
“When advised she was under arrest, she chose to resist arrest and ultimately took Officer Delacruz’s taser from him and used it against him,” Cagle said.
The woman’s attorneys argued that Delacruz should have known his Taser was rendered essentially useless after he fired it. Turner could have used the weapon like a stun gun, but only if she were touching him, the lawsuit said. Even then, the stun gun mode causes only isolated pain.
Sixteen months later, Delacruz was indicted on the first-degree felony charge, which carries a punishment of five years to life in prison.
The trial has not yet been scheduled, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
“Prosecutors have a duty to apply the law equally to everyone, including police officers, and we are ready to proceed to trial against the Baytown Police Department officer who took Pamela Turner’s life,” District Attorney Kim Ogg said. “We await a trial date, which must be set by Judge Silverman and we invite the public to attend the next court hearing.”
Turner’s family said they hope for a conviction and the maximum sentencing.
“He took a life; he needs to serve a life,” Dorsey-James said.
Bill Shields, co-founder of Equal Justice Now, said he hopes the Chauvin trial was a turning point in garnering public interest and empowering law enforcement members to come forward with the truth. The social advocacy group works to preserve the rights of citizens. Members plan to attend the rally for Turner, Shields said.
“We want accountability,” Shields said about the Turner case. “Everybody is innocent until proven guilty, and I would not deny the officer those rights. He deserves the same level of consideration as everyone else. But the fact is, what we know about the case is very disheartening.”