An innocent 17-year-old shot by police while eating a burger in a parking lot is fighting for survival with a bullet lodged next to his heart.
Erik Cantu was shot multiple times by San Antonio Police Officer James Brennand on October 2, after he wrongly believed the teenager had evaded him the day before.
He remains in hospital on life support and his parents say he is fighting for his life.
His mother, Victoria Casarez, said four bullets have been recovered from his body but a fifth cannot be removed.
“That is still lodged near his heart, she said, adding: “They’re unable to get that out right now. It would do more harm than good.”
Casarez said the bullets also pierced his lungs, diaphragm, stomach, bicep and liver.
The parents of the 17-year-old boy who was shot by a now-ex-San Antonio police officer say their child was left “mutilated.” APCantu is on a cocktail of medication to keep the pain at bay but goes into cardiac arrest every time medical staff try to wean him off the sedatives, family attorney Ben Crump said at a press conference Tuesday.
His father also explained how Cantu suffers from terrifying hallucinations of the shooting.
“Every minute of him waking up, [he goes from] what we think is a peaceful sleep to hallucinations and raising his hands, and trying to press the pedals to the car and pushing gun symbols,” Cantu’s father, Erik Sr. said, making a gun gesture with his hand.
The officer who shot Cantu has been fired by the San Antonio Police Department, with its police chief Chief William McManus condemning his actions and calling the video “horrific”.
He added “There is no question in anybody’s mind looking at that video that the shooting is not justified,” according to KSAT.
Erik Cantu was eating a burger in a McDonald’s parking lot when then-officer James Brennand approached and shot at Cantu while he drove away. Facebook/Erik CantuBrennand was in the parking lot originally responding to an unrelated disturbance when he spotted the teen’s car, which he believed evaded him a day earlier, police training commander Alyssa Campos said last Wednesday.
The rookie cop violated training and police procedures after he walked up to the car and ordered the teen out after he suddenly opened the driver’s door before backup officers arrived, Campos said.
Erik and an unharmed passenger stopped nearby before police found them.
Brennand has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault by a public servant.
The rookie cop, who had been with the department for less than a year, turned himself in but was released on bail the next day. His next court hearing is set for Nov. 23.
Brennand was in the parking lot responding to an unrelated disturbance when he spotted Cantu’s car, which he claimed had evaded him a day earlier, the police department said.
Brennand has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault. APThe rookie cop violated training and police procedures after he walked up to the car and ordered the teen out after he suddenly opened the driver’s door before backup officers arrived, Campos said.
The Cantu family also said the former officer falsely claimed the car he was driving was stolen, but in fact, it was the family’s car.
“He was profiled– we’re told the officer didn’t get the greatest look at him, but that he said [Cantu] was a Hispanic with a bowled haircut,” his father said.
Crump added the cop racially profiled the boy and “thought he had the right to just eviscerate the Constitution.”
