Families bring protests of police shootings to downtown Fort Worth

A march Wednesday in downtown Fort Worth organized to demand the release of a video in a Grapevine police shooting was joined by a surprise contingent of protesters from another family in a different police shooting.

Fernando Romero carried a sign demanding justice for his brother-in-law, Rubén García Villalpando, an unarmed mechanic who was fatally shot Feb. 20 along a Texas 121 service road in Euless after a brief chase with a Grapevine officer.

García’s family and activists want District Attorney Sharen Wilson to release video from a dashboard camera now that the case has been turned over to her office for review.

“No one from the district attorney’s office has contacted us since they got the case,” said Romero, of North Richland Hills.

Romero isn’t the only one who wants answers from Wilson.

Relatives of Daniel Brumley also showed up outside her office at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center after they heard that the Fort Worth and Dallas chapters of the League of United Latin American Citizens organized a protest in the García case.

“They are making a big deal about Rubén, but they aren’t making a big deal about my brother,” Veronica Castillo of Fort Worth said.

A spokeswoman with the district attorney’s office said Wilson was in Austin Wednesday, and she wouldn’t be making any additional comment on the García case.

They are waiting for the Fort Worth Police Department to turn the Brumley investigation over.

Brumley was shot multiple times after he was pulled over by Fort Worth police on the way home from visiting a friend at 4 a.m. Jan. 17 in the 1700 block of Northeast 36th Street.

Police said Brumley stabbed the officer during a scuffle and then was shot. The father of seven died in an ambulance.

The officer’s name has not been released, but he is back on the force after taking paid administrative leave.

“I was told it was a superficial cut,” Castillo said. “One of the witnesses who was interviewed by the detective said the officer was walking around and pacing after he shot my brother.”

Castillo said she was told that there is no video of the shooting.

Sgt. Steve Enright, a Fort Worth police spokesman, wrote in an email to the Star-Telegram that members of Brumley’s family have met twice with a deputy chief to discuss what could be released before the case is presented to a grand jury.

“Regarding specifics of what witnesses have imparted to investigators, that is not available at this time nor is verifying the existence of any electronic evidence that may be used or presented as evidence,” Enright wrote. “This is done as not to taint the grand jury with evidence prior to it being presented by the district attorney.”

Brumley’s longtime friend Adrian Garza of Fort Worth said, “It wouldn’t be a question of what happened if the officer had a camera.”

Lee Saldivar of the Fort Worth chapter of LULAC said: “This is a Tarrant County problem. We need to take a position. We need to represent the civil rights of the people.”

Relatives of García who have seen the video said that moments before he was shot twice in the chest, the Mexican national asked Grapevine patrol officer Robert Clark if he was going to kill him.

Romero, who has seen the video, said the officer responded with a stern “no.”

Hector Flores, the former national LULAC president, said, “We don’t think they should pull out their guns and become judge, jury and executioner.”

On the other hand, Flores said, people need to obey the law.

“Law enforcement already have a hard enough job with their image to begin with,” he said. “The shootings aren’t helping.”

This story was originally published April 15, 2015 at 3:27 PM with the headline "Families bring protests of police shootings to downtown Fort Worth."