Christian Taylor Murder: Arlington Police Officer Brad Miller Fired By Texas Police Chief


Four days after the killing of 19-year-old Christian Taylor, an unarmed college football player, by a Texas police officer, the city police chief has fired the officer. According to CNN, officer Brad Miller, who shot Taylor outside a car dealership in Arlington, Texas, was fired for exercising “poor judgment.” The decision to fire officer Brad Miller was made public by Arlington city police chief Will Johnson.

In a statement issued by Chief Johnson, he confirmed the development.

“Based on a preponderance of evidence available to me and the facts revealed by the investigative team, I have decided to terminate Officer Miller’s employment with the Arlington Police Department for exercising poor judgment,” Johnson said.

The incident that has resulted in the firing of the officer has its origin from August 7 when Christian Taylor allegedly drove his SUV through the front window of a car dealership at Arlington. Shortly after security officials stationed there called 911, Arlington police officers, including officer Brad Miller, reached the spot. The officers asked Taylor, who was still inside the building when they arrived, to surrender, which he reportedly ignored. Officer Miller entered the building alone upon reaching the dealership when he saw Taylor quickly moving towards him while cursing. Reportedly fearing for his own safety and fearing that he would be overpowered by Taylor, Miller fired at Christian four times. In the meantime, another officer, a veteran with 19 years of service, also entered the building and used a Taser on Taylor. Officer Miller was incidentally in the last stages of his field training on the day of the incident. Initial investigations seem to confirm that there was no physical contact between the officers and Taylor before he was shot. Christian Taylor succumbed to his injuries later.

Explaining his decision to fire officer Miller, Will Johnson added,

“This unilateral decision to enter the building and to continue the pursuit deeper into the building upon making contact with Mr. Taylor — along with failing to communicate with fellow officers or develop an arrest plan — created an environment of cascading consequences that produced an unrecoverable outcome.”

Meanwhile, authorities are still investigating the incident. Upon completion, a report would be submitted to the Tarrant County district attorney for consideration and submission to the grand jury. The jury will decide if the officer’s decision to use force against Christian Taylor was warranted for and if he would face prosecution, CBS Local reports.

Christian Taylor was a defensive back and played for the Angelo State University. He was listed last year as a 5-foot-9, 180-pound freshman.

Taylor’s family, while admitting he was in the wrong, added that there was no reason for him to die. Adrian Taylor, Christian’s father, said the trained officers could have used other ways to subdue an unarmed man.

“What he’d done, ain’t no way right. But to shoot an unarmed man? You’re a police officer, you’re trained to take down men with your hands. You have your Tasers, you have your clubs, whatever there is. Unarmed, a 19-year-old — and you shoot to kill?”

In a related report, the Inquisitr reported about the demand for the release of surveillance tapes from the car dealership where the incident occurred. Do you think it was correct of the Arlington Police Department to fire their own officer for the killing of Christian Taylor?

[Image Via Gawker]

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