Police State: This is what the Abbott government plans for Oz - International Prose

Police State: This is what the Abbott government plans for Oz
by Natalie Evans via jake - The Mirror UK Tuesday, Sep 1 2015, 10:47pm
international / prose / post

Video shows Texas police 'kill man who had his hands up'

Mobile phone footage appears to show Gilbert Flores, 41, outside a house with his hands up before shots are fired and he falls to the floor.

Video footage has emerged which appears to show two police officers shoot and kill a man who had his hands up.

The mobile phone clip, shown on a local TV news channel in Texas, shows Gilbert Flores being fatally shot by two sheriff's deputies.

The 41-year-old is shown outside a house with his arms raised as the two officers approach him.

Shots are then heard before he is seen falling to the ground.

Both the officers and Flores were Hispanic.

The shooting, in San Antonio, came after questions have been raised about racial bias in US policing following a spate of incidents.

They include the shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri, about a year ago by a white officer.

Bexar County deputies had been called to a domestic disturbance in an upscale neighborhood last Friday.

They reportedly found a woman and a three-week-old old baby who had been injured, as well as Flores, who police said in a report was "armed."

Sheriff's spokeswoman Rosanne Hughes said: "The deputies attempted to use less than lethal methodologies.

"When that did not work, they were forced to discharge their weapons."

The video, recorded by a neighbour about a block away and aired on station KSAT-TV, appeared to show Flores raising his arms as if surrendering before being shot.

Terri Burke, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said: "The video of Gilbert Flores' fatal shooting by two deputies raises serious concerns over whether these officers used force that was proportional to the circumstances."

In a statement, Sheriff Susan Pamerleau asked for calm.

"We are diligently working to complete the investigation, so we can move to the next step," she said.

Sheriff's department officials said the video only recorded the last few minutes of a lengthy encounter and did not include any audio of the conversations.

A new law that took effect in Texas on Tuesday provides state funding to get body cameras onto more officers in more departments across the state.

Many US cities have moved toward supplying body cameras to patrol officers following rising tensions and protests over what critics see as an indiscriminate use of force by police against unarmed civilians, especially racial minorities and the mentally ill.

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