Police cordon off the scene of an alleged human smuggling mass casualty event in San Antonio, Texas, the United States, on June 28, 2022. The death toll of migrants found on Monday inside a "cloned" and abandoned 18-wheeler in San Antonio has risen to 50, authorities said on Tuesday. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua via Getty Images)
Shocking newly-released video shows the moment a Texas police officer shot and killed a 13-year-old boy after he stole a car and attempted to hit another cop’s vehicle, and now his family is calling his dead an unjustified use of deadly force.
On June 3, 2022. authorities say Andre Hernandez Jr. was driving a stolen red Toyota Corolla alongside two other juveniles when he was shot and killed by San Antonio Police Officer Stephen Ramos.
Ramos and two other officers, identified only as Claire and Espinoza, had been responding to reports of gunfire and loud music about 1 a.m.
Video obtained by the San Antonio Express-News shows the officers pursuing the stolen Corolla, which can be see backing away from Ramos’ vehicle before pulling into a driveway.
“Don’t let him ram you!” Ramos yells at Espinoza, who stops his Chevrolet Tahoe patrol vehicle before opening the door and placing his left leg out on the side of the vehicle.
“Let me see your hands!” Espinoza yells and puts his leg back inside as the Corolla hits his vehicle.
Seconds later, Ramos can be seen exiting his car and opening fire, video shows.
“I’m shot, sir,” Hernandez says after he exits the vehicle before falling to the ground.
Ramos goes to check on Hernandez and runs to his patrol car to get a medical kit and administering first aid. The young teen was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was later pronounced dead, according to the outlet.
The Bexar County District Attorney’s Office called the shooting of a minor a “tragedy,” but that Hernandez’s age “was not known by Officer Ramos at the time, nor does it mitigate the threat to Officer Espinoza.”
“It was reasonable for Officer Ramos to believe that Officer Espinoza was standing outside of his vehicle and was therefore being threatened with deadly force by the red Toyota as it accelerated towards him,” a memo detailing the DA’s review states, according to the Express News.
The memo stated Officer Espinoza “used deadly force to prevent unjustified harm.”
“These facts led Officer Ramos to believe that Officer Espinoza was being threatened with deadly force. Thus he used deadly force to prevent unjustified harm to Officer Espinoza in accordance with” the Texas Penal Code, the outlet added.
The district attorney’s office ultimately declined to bring criminal charges against officer Ramos.
Hernandez’ family lawyer, Lee Merritt, said they are “very frustrated” by the grand jury’s decision not to pursue charges against the officer, and are now moving forward with a federal civil rights lawsuit instead.
Ramos, who had previously fatally shot John Pena Montez during domestic call in 2021. A grand jury cleared him in that incident, as well.
“This officer has killed two human beings, he has no business in the profession of policing,” Merritt said.
Merritt countered that that the Corolla was moving too slowly at the time to pose a danger to Espinoza, “never going more than 5 miles per hour,” the attorney told KEN5.
“Those cars were never going more than 5 miles per hour and AJ Hernandez never represented a deadly threat to anyone,” Merritt told news station KEN5.
