Listen Live
WENZ Z1079 Mobile App 2020
Z 107.9 Featured Video
CLOSE

Attorneys and supporters of Pamela Turner, a Black woman who was shot by a Texas officer during a May 2019 fatal encounter, are gathering on Thursday to reinvigorate justice efforts around her wrongful death.

Turner’s advocates which include her family, their lawyers Ben Crump and Devon M. Jacob, along with the families of of Breonna Taylor, Atatiana Jefferson, Sandra Bland, Robbie Taylor, Joshua Feast, George Floyd, and Jacob Blake Jr., will gather in Baytown on the second anniversary of her death.

Before the harrowing death of Breonna Taylor and so many others who went unreported, Turner was shot to death in May 2019 after she was accosted by Officer Juan Delacruz, a Baytown, Texas, officer in the parking lot of her apartment complex.

Delacruz was indicted on one count of aggravated assault in September 2020, but still remains employed. One of the main tenants of the rally is to call for Delacruz’s termination

Over the last two years, Turner’s family has fought to erase the narrative around the justification of her death. Turner and Delacruz lived in the same apartment complex and Turner reportedly told her family that she felt targeted by the officer on more than one occasion. Turner’s family maintains that she was in the midst of a mental health crisis, after battling paranoid schizophrenia.

On the night of her death Delacruz confronted Turner in the parking lot of their apartment complex, where a struggle ensued. Delacruz, who also served as a security officer for their residence, claims he attempted to execute a warrant over a prior confrontation Turner reportedly had with building management. The Baytown Police Department allege that Delacruz was justified in using excessive force after Turner seized a taser and attempted to use it on the officer. In return he fired at her while she laid on her back..

Last month Turner’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit on what would have been her 46th birthday.

“I should be calling my mother and singing happy birthday this morning,” Turner’s daughter, Chelsie Rubin, said on the day the suit was filed. “But instead I’m standing in front of all of you fighting once again to try to bring recognition and demand the justice that my mom deserved and should have been offered a long time ago.”

SEE ALSO:

Bernie Sanders Uses Pamela Turner’s Police Shooting In New Campaign Ad

Pamela Turner Is Buried While Texas Cop Who Killed Her Is Already Back At Work

#JusticeForPamelaTurner: Civil Rights Leaders Organize Rally On Second Anniversary Of Her Death  was originally published on newsone.com