Brad Miller, the Arlington police rookie who fatally shot an unarmed teen burglary suspect, was fired to “appease anti-police activists,” the ex-officer’s attorney said Wednesday.
Attorney John Snider said Chief Will D. Johnson used “20/20 hindsight” and bowed to public pressure rather than allowing an investigation to play out — a sentiment echoed by several police associations. The criticism of the chief came a day after he fired the white rookie for allegedly showing poor judgment that led to the death of 19-year-old Christian Taylor, who is black.
But two other lawyers — both ex-prosecutors — said it’s unlikely that some anti-police protesters will get the criminal charges they’re seeking. Miller probably won’t be indicted despite the chief’s “serious concerns” over his rationale for shooting Taylor, they said.
Toby Shook, a former chief of the Dallas County district attorney’s felony trials division, said Miller’s attorney will probably argue that he acted in self-defense.
And in Texas, it’s up to the state to disprove that the officer was afraid of Taylor, Shook said.
Taylor was seen in a video before the shooting acting erratically and jumping on a car at a car dealership. He drove an SUV through the car dealership window and allegedly told officers he planned to steal one.
“You’ve got a guy who is acting highly irrational and acting violent in that he is tearing cars up and he’s breaking things,” Shook said. “When confronted, he comes toward the officer in an aggressive manner. And even when he [Miller] presents a weapon, he keeps coming in an aggressive manner.”
Johnson faulted Miller’s decision to go into the building alone and without a plan to confront Taylor, who police worried might be armed.
Miller, 49, was hired by Arlington police in September. He finished the training academy in March. He was working under the supervision of a field training officer, who said he didn’t know Miller had gone into the building.
That officer, Cpl. Dale Wiggins, said he followed after he found out Miller had gone in alone. But Miller said he didn’t know that Wiggins, who had pulled a Taser, was next to him and that he felt alone and afraid that Taylor would overpower him.
When questioning Miller’s actions, Johnson referred to national events, with Taylor’s death becoming the latest swept up in a fervor over white officers’ fatal encounters with unarmed black suspects.
“This is an extremely difficult and tragic case,” Johnson said. “Our community is hurting, the family is hurting, our department is certainly hurting and, quite frankly, our nation is hurting.”
Police associations in Houston and Dallas also questioned Johnson’s swift firing decision. The Houston Police Officers Union, for instance, said on Twitter that the chief’s move was “disturbing.”
Snider, Miller’s attorney, said Johnson focused on the national conversation rather than on the full facts of the case.
“While Chief Johnson sits behind his desk and Monday-morning-quarterbacks an officer’s actions when coming face to face with a violent felon, his biggest fears are getting a paper cut or losing his six-figure salary,” Snider said.
Johnson did not have video of the shooting to judge Miller’s actions. He made his decision based on the officers’ statements.
But those statements could spare Miller from criminal prosecution. Based on the information laid out by officers, it appears Miller was acting in self-defense against a criminal, Shook said.
While police may be held to a higher standard by the public, the law puts everyone who claims self-defense on equal footing, Shook said.
“If the owner of that car lot had come in to check why the alarm had gone off and confronted the victim and [the owner] had a weapon with him, I don’t think anyone would want to indict that guy under the same circumstances,” Shook said.
Russell Wilson, a Dallas defense attorney who used to head the public integrity unit at the Dallas County district attorney’s office, said he doesn’t see a major difference between Miller’s case and that of a Grapevine officer who shot an unarmed man during a traffic stop.
In that case, Garcia Villalpando could be seen in dash-cam footage walking toward the officer, who had drawn his gun and was screaming for the suspect to stop. Garcia Villalpando, who had alcohol in his system, was fatally shot after closing in on the officer. Tarrant County grand jurors declined to indict the officer. Wilson said he believes they’ll also decline to indict Miller.
Wilson said he understands why Miller was fired. But losing a job for violating police procedures is different from a criminal act.
“There is a gap between law enforcement’s use of deadly force and the public’s expectation,” Wilson said.
Both men, however, said a lawsuit over the shooting is inevitable.
“That’ll happen for sure,” Shook said. “That’s a whole different ballgame.”
Staff writer Naomi Martin contributed to this report.
Copyright 2015 The Dallas Morning News
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