An Austin police officer was charged with murder on Thursday morning in connection with a deadly shootout that led to protests last year in the Texas capital.
Officer Christopher Taylor was taken into custody after a grand jury indicted him in the April 24 murder of Michael Ramos, said a spokesman for the Travis County Sheriff’s Office. He was released shortly before 12:40 pm on Thursday on $ 100,000 bail, according to the sheriff’s office.
It is the first known homicide charge by an Austin police officer in a force-using incident, the county’s chief prosecutor said.
Taylor is accused of killing Ramos after police responded to a 911 call about a person possibly involved in drug trafficking. The caller noticed that the person had a gun, reported NBC affiliate KXAN.
Video witness to the shooting shows Ramos getting out of the vehicle, raising his hands and asking police officers to lower their weapons when told to walk towards him, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
He returned to the vehicle when Officer Mitchell Pieper shot him with a beanbag gun, Police Chief Brian Manley told the newspaper shortly after the shooting. Police said Ramos closed the car door and started to pull out of the parking lot when Taylor fired his rifle.
The car crashed into a parked vehicle and Ramos was taken to a hospital, where he died, Manley said. He was 42 years old.
No weapons were found, according to investigators.
During the summer, police released their own video, which shows Taylor shooting the moving vehicle. At the time, tensions were at a boiling point across the country after incidents involving police and black men who were also captured on video. Ramos is black and Hispanic.
The protesters in Austin marched on his behalf and asked for charges against Taylor, who has been on administrative leave since the shooting. Brenda Ramos, the victim’s mother, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Austin and Taylor City Hall, claiming that Ramos was shot without justification. She could not be reached for comment.
Travis County district attorney Jose Garza said during a virtual press conference on Thursday that Taylor’s charge was a “significant step towards justice for the Ramos family and our community”.
“My heart remains broken by the Ramos family and we still have a lot of work ahead of us, but we know that holding police officers accountable when they break the law is critical to restoring our community’s trust and ensuring their safety.”
In a statement on Thursday to NBC News, Taylor’s lawyers said they were “disappointed, but unfortunately not surprised” by their client’s accusation.
“As early as July last year, the then DA candidate, Jose Garza, decided that Officer Taylor committed a crime and even offered an implicit promise to indict him several months before he was elected public prosecutor or had access to any evidence case study, ”said Ken Ervin and Doug O’Connell in the statement. “… We would like to remind Mr. Garza that his sworn duty is not to be a lawyer for one of the parties months before knowing the facts. It is to see if justice is done. “
“Today’s charge is not justice; it is the fulfillment of a campaign discussion point and even more evidence of anti-police prejudice. We hope to present the facts of this case, in its entirety, to a panel of citizens who are not behind closed doors and are not under their exclusive control. “
