Witnesses to end of pursue where Garland officer fired forty one shots say police deleted cellphone photos, movie
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MESQUITE — A Garland police officer is on restricted duty after authorities say he fired as many as forty one shots at an evidently unarmed man last month, killing him.
Garland police also said Tuesday that dash-cam movie exposed that Officer Patrick Tuter crashed his squad car into a truck driven by the suspect, Michael Vincent Allen, before the shooting embarked. Initial reports had said Allen had hit Tuter’s car, prompting the officer to open fire.
“It’s still under investigation,” said Garland police spokesman Officer Joe Harn. “We’re attempting to find out exactly why he commenced shooting.”
Tuter’s attorney, John Snider, said the response is ordinary.
“At some point, while attempting to prevent the suspect from making an escape, Officer Tuter did feel in fear for his life and was justified in firing his weapon,” Snider said.
According to authorities, Snider and witnesses, the events leading to the shooting began just after midnight on Aug. Thirty one when Tuter noticed a white GMC pickup that had been involved in a previous pursue with Sachse police.
Officers attempted to stop the truck at Very first Street and Avenue B, but the 25-year-old Allen fled. Dallas County sheriff’s deputies joined the pursue when the truck crossed into Mesquite. After a 30-minute pursuit with speeds reaching up to one hundred mph, Allen turned into a cul-de-sac in the three thousand block of Monarch Court.
That’s where police originally said Allen made a U-turn and hit a squad car as officers attempted to box him in. But Tuesday’s updated account by police, confirmed by Snider, indicates that the police hit Allen’s car and then fatally shot him. A 20-year-old woman in the pickup with him was uninjured and is considered a witness.
It is unclear whether any officers ordered Allen to exit his vehicle before the shooting began. Investigators have not discovered a weapon on either Allen or the passenger, but Snider said his client, a seven-year veteran of the force, felt threatened.
“He believed the suspect had a gun,” Snider said. “He believed he had a gun based on the situation and the suspect’s deeds.”
Snider did not dispute Garland police’s contention that Tuter fired up to forty one rounds from his department-issued semiautomatic weapon. Harn said the officer — who was the only officer to fire a weapon during the incident — “did have to reload” to get off that many shots.
Monica Zabrano, Allen’s 22-year-old gf, said Tuesday that he had left her house just hours before the shooting, but had planned to come back. She said that she never believed the initial police account of what happened.
“I know Michael,” Zabrano said. “He would not attempt to hit a police car. Violence was not in his nature.”
Allen has had numerous previous run-ins with the law, including arrests for evading police, drug possession and brunt. Zabrano said she believes those encounters with police may have played a role in his death.
“I believe they shot him because he’s gotten away from them before,” she said. “When Michael feels threatened, he gets out of there. He gets to where he doesn’t feel threatened. He was attempting to get to where he felt safe.”
Mitchell Wallace and his family live next door to where the pursue ended, and Wallace had no trouble believing the report that up to forty one shots were fired.
“There was a pause in inbetween the firing that made me believe he was reloading,” Wallace said.
After Allen pulled into a driveway at the end of a cul-de-sac in an attempt to make a U-turn, his truck was pinned inbetween two police cars with one of the police cars striking Allen’s truck from the front, said Wallace’s 17-year-old son, Cameron.
“From the time they yelled, ‘Get out, get out,’ they didn’t give him three seconds to get out,” Mitchell Wallace said, adding that he counted about twenty bullet slots in Allen’s truck.
Wallace and his wifey were asleep when the gunshots began, but they quickly made it to the porch to see Allen’s passenger being pulled from the truck and a police dog hopping into the cab. The German shepherd bit Allen in the neck and jaw area and dragged him out of the truck and onto the pavement, Wallace said.
Police officers pulled the dog off, flipped Allen on his tummy and cuffed him before checking his pulse. Autopsy results are pending on the cause of Allen’s death.
Wallace took cellphone pictures and movie after the shooting stopped, but he said Mesquite police confiscated the phone and deleted the movie and pictures. The phone was returned four days later, he said.
Snider said that Tuter, who married recently, is cooperating fully with both the criminal investigation by Mesquite as well as the internal affairs investigation being conducted by Garland police to determine whether the officer violated departmental rules.
Mesquite will present its findings to the Dallas County district attorney’s office, which will determine whether to take the case to a grand jury.
At least one Garland official is hoping for a thorough review of the situation.
“Some of the allegations regarding this incident do raise questions that need to be cautiously examined,” said City Council member Rick Williams. “I have accomplish faith that Police Chief Mitch Bates and his staff will do a thorough investigation and provide an impartial and finish determination once the investigation is finished.”
Staff writers Tanya Eiserer, Ray Leszcynski and Scott Goldstein contributed to this story.
Witnesses to end of pursue where Garland officer fired forty one shots say police deleted cellphone photos, movie, News, Dallas News
Witnesses to end of pursue where Garland officer fired forty one shots say police deleted cellphone photos, movie
- Print This Story
Connect with Wayne Carter
MESQUITE — A Garland police officer is on restricted duty after authorities say he fired as many as forty one shots at an evidently unarmed man last month, killing him.
Garland police also said Tuesday that dash-cam movie exposed that Officer Patrick Tuter crashed his squad car into a truck driven by the suspect, Michael Vincent Allen, before the shooting began. Initial reports had said Allen had hit Tuter’s car, prompting the officer to open fire.
“It’s still under investigation,” said Garland police spokesman Officer Joe Harn. “We’re attempting to find out exactly why he commenced shooting.”
Tuter’s attorney, John Snider, said the response is elementary.
“At some point, while attempting to prevent the suspect from making an escape, Officer Tuter did feel in fear for his life and was justified in firing his weapon,” Snider said.
According to authorities, Snider and witnesses, the events leading to the shooting began just after midnight on Aug. Thirty one when Tuter noticed a white GMC pickup that had been involved in a previous pursue with Sachse police.
Officers attempted to stop the truck at Very first Street and Avenue B, but the 25-year-old Allen fled. Dallas County sheriff’s deputies joined the pursue when the truck crossed into Mesquite. After a 30-minute pursuit with speeds reaching up to one hundred mph, Allen turned into a cul-de-sac in the three thousand block of Monarch Court.
That’s where police primarily said Allen made a U-turn and hit a squad car as officers attempted to box him in. But Tuesday’s updated account by police, confirmed by Snider, indicates that the police hit Allen’s car and then fatally shot him. A 20-year-old woman in the pickup with him was uninjured and is considered a witness.
It is unclear whether any officers ordered Allen to exit his vehicle before the shooting began. Investigators have not discovered a weapon on either Allen or the passenger, but Snider said his client, a seven-year veteran of the force, felt threatened.
“He believed the suspect had a gun,” Snider said. “He believed he had a gun based on the situation and the suspect’s deeds.”
Snider did not dispute Garland police’s contention that Tuter fired up to forty one rounds from his department-issued semiautomatic weapon. Harn said the officer — who was the only officer to fire a weapon during the incident — “did have to reload” to get off that many shots.
Monica Zabrano, Allen’s 22-year-old gf, said Tuesday that he had left her house just hours before the shooting, but had planned to comeback. She said that she never believed the initial police account of what happened.
“I know Michael,” Zabrano said. “He would not attempt to hit a police car. Violence was not in his nature.”
Allen has had numerous previous run-ins with the law, including arrests for evading police, drug possession and brunt. Zabrano said she believes those encounters with police may have played a role in his death.
“I believe they shot him because he’s gotten away from them before,” she said. “When Michael feels threatened, he gets out of there. He gets to where he doesn’t feel threatened. He was attempting to get to where he felt safe.”
Mitchell Wallace and his family live next door to where the pursue ended, and Wallace had no trouble believing the report that up to forty one shots were fired.
“There was a pause in inbetween the firing that made me believe he was reloading,” Wallace said.
After Allen pulled into a driveway at the end of a cul-de-sac in an attempt to make a U-turn, his truck was pinned inbetween two police cars with one of the police cars striking Allen’s truck from the front, said Wallace’s 17-year-old son, Cameron.
“From the time they yelled, ‘Get out, get out,’ they didn’t give him three seconds to get out,” Mitchell Wallace said, adding that he counted about twenty bullet slots in Allen’s truck.
Wallace and his wifey were asleep when the gunshots began, but they quickly made it to the porch to see Allen’s passenger being pulled from the truck and a police dog hopping into the cab. The German shepherd bit Allen in the neck and jaw area and dragged him out of the truck and onto the pavement, Wallace said.
Police officers pulled the dog off, flipped Allen on his tummy and cuffed him before checking his pulse. Autopsy results are pending on the cause of Allen’s death.
Wallace took cellphone pictures and movie after the shooting stopped, but he said Mesquite police confiscated the phone and deleted the movie and pictures. The phone was returned four days later, he said.
Snider said that Tuter, who married recently, is cooperating fully with both the criminal investigation by Mesquite as well as the internal affairs investigation being conducted by Garland police to determine whether the officer violated departmental rules.
Mesquite will present its findings to the Dallas County district attorney’s office, which will determine whether to take the case to a grand jury.
At least one Garland official is hoping for a thorough review of the situation.
“Some of the allegations regarding this incident do raise questions that need to be cautiously examined,” said City Council member Rick Williams. “I have accomplish faith that Police Chief Mitch Bates and his staff will do a thorough investigation and provide an impartial and finish determination once the investigation is finished.”
Staff writers Tanya Eiserer, Ray Leszcynski and Scott Goldstein contributed to this story.
