SAN ANTONIO –
A now-former San Antonio police officer was charged Tuesday with two counts of aggravated assault by a peace officer for shooting and gravely wounding a teen who was eating a hamburger in his automobile in a McDonald’s parking zone.
James Brennand, 25, was charged within the Oct. 2 shooting of Erik Cantu, 17, in line with a police assertion. He turned himself in to police Tuesday evening and remained in custody, mentioned Police Chief William McManus.
Cantu remains to be unconscious and on life assist, his household mentioned Tuesday.
Brennand, a rookie officer, reported the car Cantu was sitting in had evaded him the evening earlier than throughout an tried site visitors cease. Brennand mentioned he suspected the car was stolen.
In physique digital camera footage launched by police, Brennand opens the automobile door and tells Cantu to get out. The automobile drives backward, door open, and the officer fires a number of occasions into the car. He continues to shoot because the automobile drives away.
Investigators shortly decided that the usage of lethal pressure was unwarranted, and Brennand was fired. Charges in opposition to Cantu of aggravated assault and evading arrest had been dropped.
Brennand is charged with two counts of assault as a result of there was a passenger within the automobile. The passenger was unhurt.
In a press convention Tuesday night, the police chief defended the division’s coaching and mentioned the failures had been these of the person officer.
In an look on CNN earlier Tuesday, McManus mentioned he anticipated aggravated assault fees can be filed, and homicide fees within the occasion Cantu dies.
McManus mentioned Brennand’s physique digital camera video of the Oct. 2 shooting was “horrific.”
“There is not any query in anyone’s thoughts taking a look at that video that the shooting will not be justified,” McManus mentioned.
Police officers and the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office didn’t instantly return messages from The Associated Press. Brennand has no printed phone quantity and couldn’t be reached for remark.
Cantu’s situation, as associated in his household’s assertion, is in stark distinction to what police officers mentioned within the wake of the shooting: that Cantu was hospitalized in steady situation.
“We’d prefer to right any misrepresentations that Erik is in `steady situation’ or he’s `going to be advantageous.’ That will not be true. Every breath is a battle for Erik. We ask for everybody’s continued prayers for our son,” the household mentioned.