Texas Cops Shooting Citizens All Over the State This Month: Excessive Force? Overstressed Officers? Three Dead From Police-Issued Bullets.

Texas law enforcement is getting lots of media attention this month, as police officers all across the state have used their officially issued weapons to kill citizens.  Excessive force?  You make the call:

Houston Police Officer Shoots Man to Death on Christmas Night – Witnesses Tell Different Story From Official Police Version

In Houston, a news story is bubbling up about a Houston police officer that is on administrative leave while the Powers that Be investigate how and why Curtis Hampton — a veteran Houston cop, with 13 years on the force — shot a man to death on the side of the road on Christmas Night (December 26).   Seems that the man was speeding along in his car, crashed into another vehicle, and then plowed into a ditch.  The official report out of Houston is that there was a struggle between the man and the cop as the man was being escorted to the patrol car, and the gun was used because the officer “feared for his life.”

However, there were witnesses to the killing – people who initially became interested in what was happening because they heard the car crash – and they are reporting that the officer overreacted.  No big fight, no imminent threat of harm.

Corpus Christi Killing by Cop’s Gun Getting National Attention

The national news is monitoring a story out of Corpus Christi, where a police officer took his pistol and hunted down his common law wife – finding her huddling inside a closet at her mother’s home – shooting her to death.  Seems the officer was employed by the police department of Alice, Texas, and instead of going to work his shift that Monday morning, Jose Gonzales III opted to dress in his Alice Police Department uniform, arm himself both with Alice Police Department pistols and rifles and then start his trek to track down his estranged wife.  Leslie Morin was shot multiple times in front of her mother and her children by the Alice cop.

Then, Officer Gonzales went back home, taking his son with him.  Around an hour later, he was arrested without incident.

Last Night, Dallas Cop Shoots and Kills Passenger in Car

Here in Dallas, on December 28, 2011, a man was shot to death by a Dallas Police Officer as he sat in a car. According to the Dallas cop, the shooting was necessary because the passenger was reaching for a pistol, there in the car, so the police officer feared for his life and shot the passenger. Details are still coming out, but it seems that a neighbor called the cops because of a “suspicious vehicle” parked in the area, and when the police officer pulled up to check out the car, the shooting occurred.