Police in Arlington, TX had their hands full after an officer-involved shooting that left one dead and an officer seriously wounded. The dead man’s family demanded to know why 20-year-old Tre’Shun Miller ended up dead after a simple traffic stop.
The family presented the media with the photo above. Meanwhile, for anyone looking, Tre’Shun’s Facebook page provided a treasure trove of photos indicating crime:
Of course, most folks don’t dig that deep. But the Arlington PD didn’t disappoint.
Days after the family challenged the cops for proof of what happened, Arlington PD delivered. They released the bodycam video showing Tre’Shun’s final felonious moments before crumpling to the dirt with his pants down.
NBCDFW covered the family’s outcry.
The family of 20-year-old Tre’Shun Miller says the shooting, which also left an officer wounded, is leading to questions they believe may be answered by viewing the police body camera footage.
“We’re talking about somebody that’s failure to use the traffic light to turn the lane and someone ended up being dead,” said Dominique Alexander, of the Next Generation Action Network. “Everybody in America should try to find out how, time after time, a traffic stop turns into a fatality.”
Justin Moore, Miller family attorney, said people who were in the car gave a different account of what happened than police, claiming the officer fired first.
“They saw Tre’Shun immediately exit the car and begin to flee. They saw him get shot, fall to the ground, and then return fire,” said Moore. “What we really need is bodycam evidence to corroborate our theory or to disprove it.”
The Arlington PD provided a pair of bodycams and a dashcam video as part of a news conference. There, they laid out their case for the events that led up to the attempted capital murder of a police officer.
In short, cops recognized the car, ran the plate and learned of the vehicle’s past involvement with drug investigations. Seeing a traffic violation, the officers pulled the car over and smelled pot when talking with the driver. Go figure.
Based on the probable cause of the aroma of marijuana, the officers decided to pull everyone out of the car for a search of the vehicle and its occupants.
The tape tells the rest (relevant dash cam footage begins at around 10:15; body cam footage at 18:00):
It shows Tre’Shun breaking away from an officer and running. With his pants around his thighs. About 20 yards into the chase, he fires three rounds back at the two officers, striking the nearest one in the belt buckle, taking him down. Hearing that officer’s screams makes the video very tough to watch.
The second officer and Tre’Shun exchange about fifteen rounds. The Arlington lawman’s marksmanship proved far better than the aspiring gangster’s. In a nutshell, young Tre’Shun fought the law and the law won. And Tre’Shun’s life of crime came to a sudden end. Permanently.
Arlington PD released photos on Twitter of where the bad guy’s round hit the belt buckle of the pursing officer before entering the policeman’s abdomen.
As a surprise to nobody, seeing the video that they demanded did not satisfy the Miller family’s attorney. And the family claims that Tre’Shun fired in self-defense after cops opened up on him. The evidence, however, does not fit that fanciful description of what happened.
NBCDFW covered the family attorney’s reaction, too:
…After seeing the footage Thursday morning, Justin Moore, the family’s attorney, told NBC 5 what they saw in the video was inconclusive and that “looking at the officer’s body camera you can’t see who pulled their gun first and who fired shots first.”
Looking at the video dispassionately, the attorney will have a hard time winning the lottery on this case.
Getting back to the Next Generation Action Network’s Dominique Alexander, who wanted to know how and why “time after time, a traffic stop turns into a fatality,” the answer isn’t that elusive to anyone willing to close their mouths and open their eyes and ears. In this case at least, Miller showed a willingness to kill police officers in order to escape arrest – and continue the OG lifestyle.
Of course, he failed. The 17-year police veteran, wounded in the gut, has as long and difficult road to recovery ahead of him. He’s still got Tre’Shun’s bullet in him as a souvenir for the time being. Hopefully, he will make a complete recovery and resume serving and protecting the good people of Arlington from violent offenders like Tre’Shun Miller.