By Eamonn Burke
New footage of the shooting of 42 year old Mike Ramos in Austin, Texas was released by the Austin Police Department last week. On April 24 of this year Ramos was shot after being cornered by police when a 911 was placed reporting two people (the other was his girlfriend) doing drugs in a car. Despite yelling that he was unarmed, which it was later proved he was, the police fired non-lethal bullets at Ramos. He then tried to flee the location in his car, but was shot and killed. His girlfriend survived the altercation.
Ramos became one of the names that was chanted in the streets of Austin during BLM protests over the death of George Floyd. There were demands for the termination of Austin Police Chief Brian Manley as well as calls for more systemic changes such as defunding the police in the city, which has a history of inequality and racism.
The new videos of the murder from four different body cameras do not show the shots that killed Ramos, but they can be heard. The video was reviewed by the District Attorney Margaret Moore, and the Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit alongside Texas Rangers are working to determine whether there will be charges against Officer Christopher Taylor, who fired the bullets that killed Ramos. The attorneys for Taylor say that the video is misleading and should not have been released to the public. “No judge has ever even ruled on whether or not evidence the government has released will even be admissible at trial” said attorney Doug McConnell.
Mike Ramos’ mother Brenda Ramos is devastated and believes that the killing was unjustified. “I’m going to be in pain for the rest of my life,” she says, and states that she is unable to watch the videos.
