ARLINGTON, Texas — A Texas police officer has been fired after he was charged with criminally negligent homicide in the fatal shooting of a black man during a traffic stop last year.
In a statement Friday, Arlington police announced Officer Bau Tran was fired after an internal investigation found policy violations that led to the Sept. 1 shooting of 24-year-old O’Shae Terry.
Tran, who may appeal his dismissal, has yet to enter a plea to the criminal charge. A message left with his attorney wasn’t immediately returned.
The indictment marks a rare criminal prosecution of a police officer in the historically conservative North Texas county. It could draw greater attention to a case that was largely overshadowed by another in the same month in which a white Dallas police officer fatally shot a black man in his own apartment.
Tran shot Terry on Sept. 1 after another officer pulled the Forest Hill resident over on a registration violation. After talking for several minutes, body camera footage shows Tran grabbing the passenger-side window of the SUV Terry was driving as it begins to roll up. The officer stepped on to the vehicle’s running board as it started to move, pointed his gun into the SUV and fired multiple shots. Terry later died at a hospital.
Tran was placed on restricted duty following the shooting, then was put on leave when the Tarrant County grand jury returned its indictment on May 1.
Tran’s attorney, Randall Moore, has maintained that his client’s actions were legal and taken to protect the public.