A 52-year-old Temple Police Officer named Carmen DeCruz was arrested Monday, February 10, after being officially charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of 28-year-old Michael Dean.
The family of Dean met with the Bell County District Attorney Henry Garza on Tuesday, one day after the arrest of DeCruz. The attorney representing the family, Lee Merritt, said that the evidence in the warrant affidavit is sufficient enough to support a charge other than manslaughter. The family would like to see DeCruz charged with murder.
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DeCruz is on administrative leave until his actual indictment occurs.
The district attorney is in possession of all of the footage and evidence pertaining to the case. With that knowledge, Merritt says that he will respect any decision that is made by the district attorney in regard to the charges against DeCruz. Garza stated that the investigation done by the Texas Rangers has been enough for a manslaughter charge.
The original accident occurred on December 2, 2019, when DeCruz was running radar and tried to pull Dean over for speeding. Based on the reports provided, Dean gave DeCruz a bit of a chase before stopping at the intersection of Little River Road and Loop 363.
The body camera that DeCruz was wearing made light of the events that shortly followed. DeCruz approached Dean’s vehicle with his firearm drawn and directed Dean to turn off the engine and hand him the keys. DeCruz kept his finger on the trigger and the gun pointed at Dean the entire time.
As DeCruz pulls back with the keys in his left hand, his right hand pulled back as well causing his duty issued gun to go off shooting Dean in the head.
The family is arguing the DeCruz intended to cause death because Dean was shot through the temple through the closed door over a minor traffic violation.
They expect the internal investigation to be completed by the end of February.