A Houston police sergeant and three officers earlier fired for what the police chief agreed was unreasonable force have been reinstated, ABC-affiliated KTRK-TV reported on Monday. Sgt. Benjamin LeBlanc and officers Patrick Rubio, Luis Alvarado, and Omar Tapia fired 21 shots, killing 27-year-old Nicholas Chavez on April 21, 2020.
The officers had been called to the area of east Houston about an armed man, later identified as Chavez, in distress and running into traffic, KTRK reported. Experiencing an apparent mental health crisis, Chavez had stabbed himself with a piece of steel and ended up in a standoff with police for 15 minutes, the Houston Chronicle reported. He was kneeling and had picked up a used Taser when the officers shot him, according to the newspaper.
A toxicology report the Houston Chronicle obtained showed that Chavez had alcohol and traces of methamphetamine in his system at the time of his death. Union attorneys claimed Chavez was suffering from “excited delirium,” a controversial phrase often used to justify police brutality. The National Institutes of Health wrote in its research of the alleged condition that it is typically associated with drug use and puts the victim in danger of suffering cardiopulmonary arrest.
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After producing only one witness, Asst. Chief Chandra Hatcher, the city rested its case and was found not to have met its burden of proof, the Houston Chronicle reported. The officers were reinstated with back pay. “We were easily able to prove the officers had acted in the manner they were trained,” union president Douglas Griffith said. He also said he was “extremely happy” about the arbiter’s ruling.
Warning: This video contains footage of a deadly police shooting that may be triggering for some viewers.
Video of the shooting taken by a bystander went viral and triggered criticism of the police force. Former Chief Art Acevedo fired the officers and said Chavez was “at his greatest level of incapacitation” when the officers shot him. The deadly shooting was “not objectively reasonable,” Acevedo said. “You don’t get to shoot somebody 21 times,” he stated during a news conference.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said during the news conference:
“It was roughly a 15-minute-or-so encounter, and for almost the entire time, I cannot fault the police officers for what they did. But in those final seconds, when deadly force was used, I have, as mayor of this city, asked several questions: Did Mr Chavez pose an immediate threat to any police officer or to the general public? What instrument or weapon did he have that could have posed an imminent threat to the officers or to the general public? And if Mr. Chavez had a taser in his hand, would that have justified the use of deadly force? And those questions, I have asked over and over and over again, and in this case, I have concluded that there was no imminent threat to any police officer, and they could have returned home to their families.
I’ve said that many times. I want police officers to do their jobs. I recognize that their job, every day, is a difficult one, and at the end of the day I want each and every one of our police officers to return home to their families. There was no threat to the general public and Mr. Chavez only posed a threat to himself, and he too could have lived and could have gotten the help that he desperately needed.”
Turner said in a recent statement to KTRK that he watched the video of the shooting and was “disturbed” by what he saw. “The city dismissed the officers, but the independent hearing officer has reinstated them. It is important that, before any consideration is given to placing these officers back on the street, they be retrained and fully understand the policies of this city,” Turner said. “Mr. Chavez’s family lost a loved one, and even though the hearing officer has reinstated these officers, no one should be rejoicing under the circumstances.”
The police union, six out of 10 members of an administrative discipline committee, and an independent police oversight board all concluded the officers should not have been disciplined, the Houston Chronicle reported. A grand jury failed to indict the officers.
A federal judge also dismissed claims against the city alleging excessive force and negligence, but a portion of a lawsuit the Chavez family launched is still working its way through probate court, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Houston police Chief Troy Finner said during a news conference on Monday that, although he was not the final decision-maker when officers were indefinitely suspended, he believes there was “evidence of policy violations.” He refused to specify what those violations were, but asked that the city respect the process and pray for everyone involved. Finner said it could take a few days for the officers to be back to work. “They’ve been away from the department almost two years,” he said. “There will be reintegration training, also additional training just as any other officers involved in critical incidents.”
The Greater Houston Coalition for Justice, a nonprofit, is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate, according to KHOU.
Chavez’s father, Joaquín Chavez, said during a news conference that police officers “killed a child, a man, a father, a son without any regard. [...] Two years later, they get their job back. Where do we go from here,” Joaquín Chavez asked. “The only place we can go is to seek justice.”
He said he hurts every day. “I lost a child that day,” Joaquín said.
Leantha Chavez, Nicolas’ mother, said in statements the Houston Chronicle covered that she can’t believe the officers “are going to be back out on the street.”
“They murdered my son,” she said.
