By Peggy O’HARE, The Houston Chronicle
A Houston police officer who last fall shot to death an unarmed teenage driver was fired Thursday, just three weeks after a Harris County grand jury declined to indict him on criminal charges.
Officer Richard Kevin Butler, a 10-year Houston Police Department veteran with an otherwise clean record, was “indefinitely suspended” by acting Police Chief Joe Breshears in connection with the Halloween night shooting of Jose Daniel Vargas Jr., 15. The action, which Butler’s attorney said amounts to termination, comes three days after a personnel hearing during which the officer explained his actions the night Vargas was killed.
In a six-page letter to the city’s Civil Service Commission Thursday, Breshears said Butler, 38, failed to use sound judgment and violated several established HPD policies. Butler also “compounded the imminent danger” by placing his gun inside the teen’s vehicle while it was still in gear, the acting chief said.
Butler is appealing and seeking full reinstatement. A call to his home Thursday night went unanswered. But Brett Ligon, his lawyer with the Houston Police Officers Union, vowed to win the officer’s job back.
The chief’s decision was applauded by the slain teen’s family, but upset Hans Marticiuc, president of the Houston Police Officers Union, who said the shooting was an accident and not a racial issue as some have suggested. Vargas was one of two Hispanic teens shot to death by Houston police in a one-month span last fall.
“From a police officer’s perspective, I’m really having trouble with this decision,” Marticiuc said. “With the uncertainty of who’s going to be the next chief, people aren’t willing to make the real hard decisions and the right decisions. I know there’s a lot of pressure on this Police Department right now because of racial profiling and two of these (shootings) happening in a short period of time.”
Vargas, of Missouri City, was killed when he was confronted by Butler, who was off duty and working an extra job approved by HPD, providing security at the AMC 30 movie theater in the 2900 block of Dunvale.
Butler saw Vargas driving his mother’s Chevrolet Blazer through the theater parking lot with music blaring, but Vargas never tried to park in any of the vacant spaces. Because that was not typical of “an average theater patron,” the chief’s letter states, Butler tried to stop the vehicle so he could question the people inside. But Vargas ignored the officer and sped away.
Using an “in-house” radio issued by the theater, Butler notified two other uniformed officers also providing security at the AMC complex. The other officers, standing in a driveway leading into the parking lot, tried to stop Vargas’ Blazer, but the teen accelerated, forcing them to jump out of the way. Vargas then drove onto Dunvale, almost causing several accidents, the chief’s letter states.
Butler, driving his personal vehicle, chased the teen, who became trapped in traffic.
Butler got out of his car and stuck his gun inside the teen’s driver’s side window while he ordered Vargas to park and turn off the engine. Instead, the teen accelerated, and the Blazer lunged forward, causing the vehicle’s side window pillar to strike the officer’s gun or hand, investigators found. Butler heard a “pop” and felt his gun fire. Vargas, shot in the chest, died later at Ben Taub Hospital.
A Police Department internal affairs investigation revealed Butler had a department-issued police radio at the time of the emergency but didn’t use it to call for help until after the shooting.
“Officer Butler chose to operate only the theater-issued `in-house’ radio and failed to notify the area dispatcher and on-duty units that a suspect driving a vehicle had attempted to run down two uniformed officers and he needed assistance in stopping the vehicle,” Breshears’ letter states.
Butler knew there were at least two people inside the Blazer but failed to call for back-up or wait for help before trying to stop them, Breshears said. The officer also erred by positioning his gun inside the driver’s side window close to the teen, who could have grabbed the weapon, the acting chief wrote.
The firearms examiner who checked Butler’s gun found it was in proper working order and designed in such a way the weapon would not have fired if the trigger was not pulled, Breshears said.
Butler’s demeanor and statements during his personnel hearing Monday showed he is “a very honest, sincere and compassionate individual,” the acting chief wrote.
But Butler’s actions the night of the shooting -- and statements he made during the internal affairs investigation and Monday’s hearing -- indicate “his inability to revert to his training and knowledge of policies when placed in a high-stress situation where quick decisions need to be made,” Breshears concluded.
The Vargas family’s lawsuit against Butler, the city of Houston and AMC Theaters is pending. But the boy’s parents are “gratified” the city has “taken the appropriate action,” said their attorney, Terry Bryant.
Marticiuc suggested Butler was caught up in a political tide that extends beyond the Vargas shooting.
“This is not a racial issue -- this is a black officer with not a bit of disciplinary history, who’s married to a Hispanic female, with three small children. But that’s part of the story that never gets out,” Marticiuc said.