Local News
Officers cleared
Nothing criminal in shooting of suspect by SWAT, jury finds
San Marcos — Four Hays County law enforcement officers have been cleared of criminal wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of a hit-and-run suspect.
A Hays County grand jury wrapped up its inquiry last week into the Feb. 4 incident without handing down indictments.
Appearing before the panel at its May 3 session, Texas Ranger Tommy Ratliff presented results of his investigation into the standoff that ended when four members of the city and county SWAT team fired into a stolen truck driven by Leslie Eugene Whited, 35, who was shot four times in the back.
The grand jury heard more testimony at a second session June 7, before concluding its investigation without taking action, Chief Deputy District Attorney Wesley H. Mau said today. Grand jury deliberations and votes are conducted in secret.
“They looked into it pretty carefully and finally determined that they didn’t see anything that they thought was criminal,” Mau said. “The police officers acted properly and in accordance with their training under danger circumstances.”
San Marcos police officer John Curnutt, Hays County Sheriffs Office Det. Mark Cumberland and Sgts. David Burns and Mike Davenport fired a total of 16 rounds at Whited or his truck when they thought he was attempting to back over them, according to statements included in Ratliff’s 77-page investigation report.
Earlier in the day, Whited had struck a Suburban on Interstate 35 in Kyle driven by Barbara Bass of Burnet. Driving a Ford pickup stolen in January from a Buda dealership, Whited attempted to flee the scene as Bass followed him through San Marcos while on the phone with law enforcement, the report states. At one point, Whited pointed a gun at Bass, she told investigators according to her witness statement.
He was pulled over at Dailey and Johnson streets at 10:21 a.m. by San Marcos police officer Danny Arredondo. When Whited refused to exit the truck, SWAT team members were called in and attempted to convince him to surrender.
After more than two hours of negotiations failed, police decided to use tear gas to end the standoff and repositioned a large SWAT vehicle in front of Whited’s truck to prevent him fleeing again. Whited first attempted to ram the SWAT vehicle before putting the truck in reverse and lurching backwards toward a police officers, the report states.
“At this time, I believed the officers and I were in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death. I took aim of the silhouette of the head in the driver’s seat ... I fired until I saw him fall out of view,” Curnutt wrote in his witness statement.
Curnutt fired seven rounds, Davenport fired four rounds, Cumberland fired three rounds and Burns fired two rounds, the report states.
Whited was struck four times, according to an autopsy by Travis County Medical Examiner Roberto Bayardo. He also had toxic levels of methamphetamine in his blood, according to a toxicology report. A search of the truck found no firearm.
Police Chief Howard E. Williams said he is pleased with the grand jury’s investigation.
“We maintained all along that they did what they had to do — nothing more, nothing less,” Williams said. “...They basically did everything by the book and, unfortunately, it just ended the way it did. ...They couldn’t let him run them over and they couldn’t turn him loose to get back on the streets of San Marcos and endanger the public.”
Ratliff’s review of the incident included several videotapes of the shooting from police vehicle’s dashboard cameras, including one shot by a Court TV photojournalist, the report states.
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