Houston, Texas
Following last week’s fatal shooting of a mentally ill, double-amputee in a wheelchair, armed with a ball-point pen by Houston police officer Matthew Marin, the questions continue to multiply. Brian Claunch, the disabled man, was shot in the head by officer Marin.
One of the biggest questions is, how did a man with one arm and one leg in a wheelchair manage to corner a Houston police officer? And why did another officer reach for his gun, rather than his Taser?
Even Houston Mayor Annise Parker has questions. "I don't know why a CIT officer was not dispatched," said the mayor. She is speaking of a Crisis Intervention Team officer, specially trained to handle similar situations.
At City Hall on Wednesday, elected officials asked for restraint.
Local organizations are speaking out about the incident, which follows other questionable actions at the hands of the Houston Police Department. Remember the Chad Holley case?
"I'm sick and tired of the same old thing from our police departments here in Houston. We want some action, we want the truth, we want the secrecy stopped. We want to see everything being done in this case, future cases, and past cases," said Arlene Kelly with Civilians Down. Civilians Down is a local organization that focuses on police-related shootings.
Since the first of this year, there have been 22 officer-involved shootings in Houston. That's compared to 15 in all of last year. Of those 22, ten suspects or citizens were killed, 13 were injured.
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