Harris County grand jury hands down decision in Alva Braziel shooting

Two Houston police officers will not face charges in the fatal shooting of Alva Braziel, a case that stirred community tensions last summer until video showed the Houston man waving a gun in the middle of Cullen Boulevard.

The decision by a Harris County grand jury Thursday not to indict the officers in the July 9, 2016 shooting, however, drew sharp rebukes from Braziel's widow and local activists who had argued the Houston man should not have been shot.

"It's not fair," Nikki Braziel said. "They could have gotten them on capital murder, on manslaughter, anything. But they didn't."

The decision effectively clears the two police officers of any wrongdoing in a local shooting that emerged during last year's spate of fatal police altercations across the country and the fatal ambush of five officers in Dallas.

BACKGROUND: Houston mayor releases graphic video of deadly police shooting

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner released videos Thursday, July 21, 2016 from the fatal police shooting of Alva Braziel earlier this month that show the man still holding the gun in his hand after being shot in the street by police. less Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner released videos Thursday, July 21, 2016 from the fatal police shooting of Alva Braziel earlier this month that show the man still holding the gun in his hand after being shot in ... more Photo: Houston Police Department Photo: Houston Police Department Image 1 of / 39 Caption Close Harris County grand jury hands down decision in Alva Braziel shooting 1 / 39 Back to Gallery

The volatile climate and growing hostility on social media prompted Mayor Sylvester Turner two weeks after the shooting to order the release of 18 minutes of video footage collected from nearby surveillance cameras and the officers' body cameras.

The surveillance video captured the incident from afar, but was enlarged to show Braziel holding his hands in the air as the police vehicle rolls up and stops about 12:40 a.m.

The body cam videos show Braziel lying in the street at the intersection of Cullen and Ward still holding the gun in his hand. The officers can be heard on the video telling other officers they thought Braziel was trying to flag them down until he pointed the gun at them.

The body cameras did not begin recording until after the 38-year-old man was shot, because officers did not turn them on when they stepped out of the patrol car. Police Chief Art Acevedo said recently he is trying to acquire body cameras that will turn on automatically when officers leave their vehicles.

Not everyone was satisfied with the video evidence, however. Ashton Woods of Black Lives Matter Houston said Thursday that he and his fellow activists would stand behind the Braziel family.

"This no-bill is not a surprise," he said. "It is not a surprise because we know this is a system that protects the police more often than not."

He criticized Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg's handling of the case, though he supported her bid for office last year.

"I never expected her office to be perfect, but there had to be some type of repercussion for this," he said. "This is indicative of the fact that there is little public regard for black lives."

The decision came after the grand jury heard the case for a second time against the officers, identified as 13-year department veteran L. Lopez and nine-year veteran Officer E. Macias, both of whom worked in the gang division.

The first time the case was presented to a grand jury, Braziel's family members said they were unaware of the proceedings and asked for the opportunity to present additional information, including possible new evidence, Ogg said in a news release.

That situation was remedied by the unusual step of having a grand jury reconsider a case in which grand jurors declined to indict.

"It is our duty to be transparent and ensure that grand jurors have the opportunity to make informed decisions on whether a crime has been committed," Ogg said in a prepared statement. "These decisions can impact people's lives forever."

She said grand juries, which are comprised of Harris County citizens, review all police shootings.

"This enables the community, not prosecutors or police, to ultimately determine whether a person should be indicted," Ogg said.

She said the case was evaluated and presented to the grand jury by a senior prosecutor with experience in civil-rights investigations.

THE SHOOTING: Houston police officers shoot armed man on Houston's south side

Citing growing inaccuracies on social media, Turner intervened in the case after the shooting to order release of the video. He said he wanted the public to see the videos to confirm that Braziel had a gun when he was killed and to quell protests that might be based on the false premise that Houston police had shot an unarmed black man.

Braziel, a convicted felon, was not legally able to carry a gun.

In June 2001, he was charged with the unlawful carry of a weapon. According to court records, he accepted a plea bargain and was sentenced to 60 days in the Harris County Jail.

Two weeks later, he pleaded guilty to a felony charge for possession of phencyclidine, known as PCP or angel dust. He was sentenced to six months in prison. That appears to be the conviction that made him a felon.

He was also charged as a felon in possession of a weapon in 2004, but that case was dismissed.

On Thursday, his widow said Braziel's past should not have been considered in the case.

"They had video showing that Alva Braziel did not point a gun like the mayor said on TV," said Nikki Braziel. "They had video of officers saying they don't know what happened, why they shot him."

She also criticized Ogg, saying the district attorney did not care about the black community.

"How can you acquit after 16 shots?" she said. "I just don't understand how they no-billed this case."

During a community discussion about criminal justice Thursday evening at Acres Homes Multi-Service Center, HPD Chief Art Acevedo shared his thoughts on the Braziel verdict.

"Whether it's justified or not, somebody died. My heart goes out to the family," Acevedo said.

Acevedo, who was not chief during the incident, said current HPD police officers who kill a suspect in an unjustified shooting can expect to be removed from their job.

"When an officer reacts in a way where somebody dies, I cut my losses. I send them on their way," Acevedo said. The chief later clarified he was only referencing situations in which a civilian was unjustly killed.

He mentioned how last year he fired the Austin police officer involved in the deadly shooting of a black unarmed and naked teenager, David Joseph, while he was still police chief in the capital city.

He did not say whether he thought the officers involved in the Braziel shooting should have been indicted.

However, he acknowledged that grand jury indictments of police officers are tough and people shouldn't blame the district attorney for the outcome. He noted that often juries side with police, even if they start out critical of the incident.

"The biggest problem with officer-involved shootings is I believe it's too difficult to get an officer convicted," he said.



Brooke A. Lewis contributed to this report

brian.rogers@chron.com

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