Trial for Police Killing of 14 Year old Eli Escobar Begins in Houston

A former Houston police officer is set to go on trial Monday for the high profile death of a teenager.  Arthur Carbonneau is accused of shooting and killing 14 year old Eli Escobar in November of last year.Jose Sanchez says police came to talk to him about a fight he was in earlier in the day. He says his friend Eli was not involved in that attack and that he tried to leave. That's when officers tried to restrain him and Escobar put up a fight. Sanchez said, "He went crazy. The cop grabbed him, threw him on the floor. He told him to calm down. He wouldn't and he just shot him in the head." Sanchez says Escobar did nothing to warrant the use of deadly force. Neighbor Patricia Ulmer agrees. She watched the shooting from the balcony just above, and says it looked like the officer deliberately wanted to kill the boy."It was so unnecessary." Another eyewitness Jesse Rodriguez  had accompanied the cops to the scene after reporting that another youth had punched his son. "They ignored me when I was telling them who had assaulted my son," he said. "They were too busy roughing up Eli, who didn't have anything to do with the assault." Rodriguez said that as the cops seized Escobar, "he was saying, "Help me! Help me! I didn't do anything. What did I do?' They had no mercy on him, no compassion."  "They're killing our children," added Diane Bossom of Copwatch, an anti-police brutality organization.  [more ]  and [more ] and [more ]

• The Houston Police slaying of Eli Escobar should not be confused with the Houston Police killing of Jose Vargas Jr., - a 15 year old teenager-- who was shot down by police a month earlier on 10/31/2003 [more ]
  
• Town hall urges more police accountability [more ]