The mother of a black man who was shot and killed inside his home by a white Dallas police officer who said she mistook the apartment for her own has suggested that her son might still be alive if he were white.
Allison Jean, the mother of 26-year-old St Lucian national Botham Jean, wondered whether race was a factor in the killing.
“I didn’t know she was white until now. If it was a white man, would it have been different? Would she have reacted differently?” Jean questioned yesterday during an interview aired by Dallas’ NBC affiliate, KXAS .
Authorities have confirmed that the officer is white, but have not released her name or any other details about her.
Botham Jean attended Harding University in Arkansas.
He moved to Dallas after graduating in 2016, and was working with the accounting and consultancy firm PwC.
Dallas’ police chief, U Renee Hall, revealed yesterday that her department was seeking to charge the officer with manslaughter.
However, Hall said today that the Texas Rangers, who have taken over the investigation, has asked her department to hold off issuing an arrest warrant because they needed more time to look into information the female officer provided during an interview with detectives.
“The ball is in their court,” Hall said, while acknowledging that many questions remain about the shooting and asked the public to give investigators enough time to get to the answers.
She said blood samples have been taken from the officer and will be tested for drugs and alcohol.
Mayor Mike Rawlings described the slaying as a “very serious situation” for the city and described Botham Jean as a young professional and man of faith who was “exactly the sort of citizen we want to have.”
The St Lucian government issued a statement expressing “shock” at the killing and said officials at its embassy in the US would provide assistance to the family.
Dem sey pic of him with her in it. She’s on the left
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156355514002254&set=p.10156355514002254&type=3&theater
Respectfully Anon…that’s not her.Wait till morning u will see who she be hopefully if Admin wishes to post same.
Thx. Got it from a post on a Political Blogger’s FB Page