The Travis County district attorney’s office announced Friday it won’t prosecute two Austin police officers who shot and killed a man who pointed a gun at them a year ago, saying they were justified in their actions.
Paul Cantu, 27, was shot Jan. 29, 2019, in a field off East William Cannon Drive, near McKinney Falls Parkway. Austin police Sgt. Michael Joseph approached Cantu and his vehicle, thinking it was a vehicle involved in a crash, when Cantu emerged from the vehicle with a gun in his hand and raised it at Joseph, District Attorney Margaret Moore said.
Joseph raised his own weapon and told Cantu to drop the gun, Moore said. Cantu dropped to his knees, held onto the gun and pointed it at himself at least once, Moore said.
“During this time, Sgt. Joseph called for backup and attempted to calm Cantu and assure him he did not want to hurt him,” Moore said in a statement.
Soon afterwards, Austin police officers Luis Camacho and Robert Mattingly arrived at the scene and saw Cantu holding a gun as well as Joseph giving commands to drop the weapon, Moore said.
“During this time, Cantu unexpectedly rose to his feet and pointed the weapon at Sgt. Joseph and Officer Mattingly,” Moore said.
Camacho and Mattingly fired their guns, striking Cantu, she said. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died.
Moore said Friday her office has determined the officers’ use of force was justified. Prosecutors will not present the case to a grand jury, she said.
Cantu’s father, Robert Cantu, said he and his family dispute some of these details, including whether his son was armed. His family has viewed the police dash camera footage, and it appears Paul Cantu is holding a cellphone or a tablet, Robert Cantu said. However, the dash camera footage is grainy, and it’s difficult to see what’s happening, he said.
“I don’t understand why a city that has $440 million in its (Police Department) budget would have such low quality dash cameras,” Cantu said.
Police showed the family a receipt of Paul Cantu’s gun purchase, but the signature does not look like his handwriting, his father said.
“We think there hasn’t been justice for Paul,” his father said. “We think he’s been denied a lot of due process rights. … We miss Paul very much. Life has been difficult without him for the last year. He was our only child.”
Credit: Source link
