HOUSTON (AP) - A Texas man whose son was shot and killed by Houston police in April is calling for law enforcement officials to release any videos related to the encounter.
The request from Joaquín Chavez comes after a bystander posted cellphone video on YouTube that appears to show Nicolas Chavez on his knees when officers shot him on April 27, KPRC-TV reported. Houston police have said they believed the 27-year-old charged at officers with an object.
“The truth is in the videos,” Joaquín Chavez said during a Greater Houston Coalition for Justice news conference earlier this week. That group is fighting to get the Houston Police Department to release videos connected to six officer-involved shootings.
Chavez said police officials have not contacted him about his son or asked him to view any videos. Police have not released videos from officer’s body cameras.
Last weekend, Houston police Chief Art Acevedo was joined by Chavez’s widow, Jessica Chavez, who has said repeatedly that she didn’t want any videos released because the bystander’s video was too explicit. Relatives of the others who were killed in the recent officer-involved shootings said they understood why Acevedo was hesitant to release videos.
Community activists in Houston are calling for greater transparency from the police.
Chavez was killed a month before George Floyd died in Minneapolis after an officer pressed his knew into Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes. The death of Floyd sparked protests worldwide against racial injustice and police brutality.
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