Body camera footage of an officer involved in a recent shooting was released by Houston police – a second such release this month. The incident took place on July 14 in southeast Houston.
The video, available on YouTube, shows the police officer fatally shooting down a suspect.
The incident happened while Houston police were investigating a case of prostitution and human trafficking near the Gulf Freeway at Monroe, investigators said. The investigators said that police located a man, who was later identified as David Salinas in the video footage, who was soliciting prostitution.
Salinas fled the scene when officers tried to pull him over, police said. Officers gave chase to the fleeing man who crashed his vehicle soon while trying to make a U-turn under the Gulf Freeway.
While trying to get the suspect out of the vehicle, the officers asked Salinas to put his hands in the air. Not heeding to the calls from the police to show his hands, Salinas continued to reach out for something inside the vehicle, according to Houston Police Assistant Chief Belinda Null and the officers who can be seen in the video.
Despite this, police officers made a number of attempts to detain the suspect but were unsuccessful. It was then that two HPD officers brandished their weapons and shot Salinas.
Following the shooting, police took Salinas to a nearby hospital where he later succumbed to the bullet injuries.
Upon searching Salinas’ vehicle after the shooting, police found a gun on the floorboard right where he was sitting when police had tried to take him out of the vehicle, reports say.
