Houston, Texas, police are implicated in the very serious injury to a young child.
The mother of a one-year-old black boy, seriously injured in the head by the police in this southern city of the United States, announced on Tuesday her intention to file a complaint against the police.
"My baby should never have been shot, especially not by the police," Legend Smalls' mother said at a press conference.
"He still has bullet fragments in his head and remains in intensive care" nearly two weeks after having had part of his skull removed, said Daisha Smalls, 19, her voice choked with emotion.
The local channel ABC13 specifies that the purpose of the operation was to relieve the child's swollen brain.
The consequences of the presence of the bullet in the gray matter of the little boy remain unknown.
"He will have to live with the rest of his life," worries the mother.
Daisha described what happened that night, seeing police come inside her car before her son was accidentally shot.
Part of Legend's skull was removed to relieve the swelling.
@ TJParkerABC13 has the story today on ABC13 at 4PM.
https://t.co/PjyCO1FJa1
- ABC13 Houston (@ abc13houston) March 16, 2021
Late on March 3, the young woman was filling up with gasoline, her son strapped to a baby seat in the back seat, when a vehicle, chased by the police, left the road in front of the gas station.
An armed man, suspected of at least two robberies, got out and threw himself into Daisha Smalls' car.
The police then opened fire, killing the suspect and injuring the little boy.
"Faced with African Americans, the police shoot first and then ask questions"
Daisha Smalls "was refueling," Houston police official Troy Finner said after the tragedy.
But, according to the young woman, she had finished and was again seated in her vehicle, when the chased man entered it.
"They knew she was in the car and they fired anyway," assured her lawyer Ben Crump, who specializes in cases of police violence against African Americans.
“Right now, facing African Americans, the police shoot first and then ask questions, and they don't do that with other citizens,” he said.
“You shouldn't shoot when you don't know your target,” added his colleague Antonio Romanucci.
“We're not in a movie or a TV series!
According to ABC13, the police officer who injured the child was placed on administrative leave during the investigation.
The mother claims that she received no apology from the local police;
the latter would not have heard directly from the injured child.
Both attorneys demanded access to recordings of the scene, noting that Houston police are believed to be equipped with cameras during their interventions.
"We are still gathering the facts, but a complaint will be filed soon," added Antonio Romanucci.
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Criticism against the American police, regularly accused of using excessive force against the black minority, took on an unprecedented scale after the death of George Floyd, under the knee of a white police officer in Minneapolis (Minnesota) on the 25th. May 2020.
