Police chief acts to ease racial tension

Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson did not wait for the results of the investigation into an officer-involved shooting to take decisive action.

Less than a week after a burglary response turned deadly, Johnson fired Arlington police officer Brad Miller, who according to police reports is responsible for the death of 19-year-old Christian Taylor.

To be clear, Johnson’s swift response is not a determination of Miller’s guilt in choosing to use deadly force against Taylor, who can be seen on surveillance footage vandalizing a vehicle and then driving his car into the showroom floor of an Arlington car dealership shortly before his death.

During a Tuesday news conference, Johnson was clear that Miller’s termination was because of breached protocols and “poor judgment” that “helped create an unrecoverable outcome.”

Whether there is enough evidence to bring charges against Miller will be determined by the Tarrant County district attorney’s office and potentially a grand jury.

But Johnson’s decision to act swiftly was wise and reasoned.

It is lost on no one that the fatal shooting occurred on the one-year anniversary of the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. — an event that incited race riots, violence and looting.

There is no evidence to suggest the shooting was motivated by race, but the fact that Taylor, an unarmed black teenager, and Miller, a white police officer, fit the narrative that first galvanized the “Black Lives Matter” movement could foment racial discord.

Johnson seems sensitive to that and has made himself even more accessible to the black community and the faith community in the wake of Taylor’s death.

He attended a scheduled NAACP meeting on Tuesday and was set to speak at an open meeting at Cornerstone Baptist Church on Wednesday.

Johnson’s actions don’t change the difficult realities of Friday’s shooting, but they suggest a sensitivity to community perceptions and a desire to ease tensions before they escalate.

His efforts are needed and welcomed.

This story was originally published August 12, 2015 at 5:46 PM with the headline "Police chief acts to ease racial tension."