San Antonio cop fired for shooting teenager who was eating a hamburger

(The AEGIS Alliance) – A cop in San Antonio, Texas that fired gunshots at an unarmed teen while he ate a burger at a McDonald’s parking area has been fired from his job. The age 17 victim continues to be in stable condition at a hospital as of Friday.

Officer James Brennand was dispatched to a disturbance report at the McDonald’s on October 2, authorities pointed out. But the parked vehicle with teenager Erik Cantu inside promptly distracted officer Brennand. He asserted the automobile attempted to evade him one day earlier in the course of an attempted traffic stop.

Brennand approached the vehicle, opened up the motorist’s door, then ordered Cantu to step out, body-cam footage reveals. Cantu had been holding a hamburger in his hands.

The young adult placed the automobile in reverse. Brennand pulled back and afterward shot a number of bullets into the car. As Cantu placed the vehicle in drive and fled McDonald’s, Brennand shot additional bullets at the car.

Multiple bullets hit Cantu who was located about one block away, police stated. An age 17 teen girl who rode in the passenger seat did not suffer physical injuries.

“There is nothing I can say in defense of that officer’s actions that night,” San Antonio Police Chief William McManus informed WOAI-TV. “I think what happened, initially, there was some contact made, but that did not justify the shooting.”

At first, Erik Cantu faced charges of resisting arrest and injuring a law enforcement officer, however, those charges were actually dropped.

“The facts and evidence we have received so far led us to reject the charges against Erik Cantu for further investigation,” Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales mentioned.

Since Brennand was a probationary police officer that was employed by the department for only 7 months, he was fired right away. There continues to be an ongoing investigation into the shooting.

Jeffrey Childers – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.