Officer dismissed over shooting of unarmed Texas football player

A Texas police officer who killed an unarmed 19-year-old college football player was fired Monday for failing to follow police department policy and putting himself and other officers in danger, the department's police chief said.

Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson said Officer Brad Miller's pursuit of 19-year-old Christian Taylor in the Friday shooting was "questionable." Police investigators continue to probe the case and will turn over evidence to a grand jury, which will make any final decision on whether to charge Miller.

There is no video of the shooting itself, though security camera footage from Classic Buick GMC dealership's parking lots shows Taylor walking around and damaging some vehicles.

Police on Tuesday released audio of a 911 call made by the company manning the exterior cameras. In the audio, the caller tells a 911 operator that a "thin black man with a blond Mohawk" was seen jumping on the windshield of a gray Ford Mustang.

Before his final confrontation with Miller, Taylor allegedly held up a set of car keys and told another officer that he intended to steal a car, Johnson said. He had driven a vehicle through the glass front doors of the showroom and, after officers arrived, was slamming his body into the side of a different part of the building to try to escape, the chief said.

"It is clear from the facts obtained that Mr. Taylor was non-compliant with police demands," Johnson said.

At a protest Tuesday night outside the Arlington police headquarters, about 60 demonstrators demanded that Miller be charged with a crime.

The firing was "not enough justice," said Matthew Higgins, 20, one of Taylor's former high school classmates. "If it was a white person, it probably would have been different."

Johnson said Miller made bad decisions in communicating with fellow officers and initially approaching Taylor on his own without a plan for arrest.

"This placed Officer Miller and the other officers on scene in a position of undue risk," Johnson said.

There were five other officers on scene, including the training officer for Miller, who tried to use a stun gun to subdue the suspect, he said.

"Based on a preponderance of evidence available to me and facts revealed by the investigative team, I have decided to terminate Officer Miller's employment with the Arlington police department for exercising poor judgment," Johnson told a news conference.

Miller, 49, was a recent graduate of the city's police academy who was still undergoing field training.

Wire services