Another trigger-happy Texas cop, another black man shot.

A 23-year old man, Robert Tolan, pulls into his own driveway in an upscale neighborhood in Bellaire, Texas.  He and his brother get out of the vehicle and walk toward their house. 

They're laughing and talking, it's dark outside - and suddenly a spotlight hits the men and they are accosted by a stranger who accuses them of stealing the car.  There is an altercation.  The stranger pulls a gun and starts firing at the men.

The stranger is a Bellaire police sergeant.  He is white.  The brothers are black, one of whom owns the vehicle that the officer thought - thought - might have been stolen. 

In fact, the vehicle is registered to the man the cop just gunned down. 

From the Houston Chronicle:   A Bellaire man remains hospitalized this morning after he was shot outside his home by a police officer who incorrectly thought he was in a stolen car, officials said.  Relatives of the wounded man, who is black, said they believe race played a role in the shooting.  The shooting happened about 2 a.m. when a 2004 Nissan Xterra pulled up to a home in the 800 block of Woodstock near Evergreen... "It's a typical case of racial profiling," said Mike Morris, Tolan's uncle.  He said Robert Tolan and his brother, the other man getting out of the car, didn't realize they were dealing with a police officer because a spotlight was trained on them.  Tolan — who lives at his parents' home that county records show is worth more than $300,000 — was taken to Ben Taub General Hospital, police said.

The young man's father, Bobby Tolan, is a former professional baseball player for the Cincinnati Reds.  Tolan says of his wife:  "She's very upset. We could have lost our son."  (Their son is currently in stable condition at the hospital.)  Bellaire Assistant Police Chief Byron Holloway insists that his officers do not engage in racial profiling.  Still, you gotta wonder...  If two young white males had been getting out of their car and going up to a 300K home, would this policeman have been so anxious to confront them?  Wouldn't he have checked the license plate number to make sure it was the stolen vehicle?  The incident is being investigated by the Harris County District Attorney's Office.  The shooter's officer's name has not been released.

Comments

[Some Guy]

Well, that's a couple million bucks that the taxpayers will pay out for a settlement. Great job, Deputy Fife.

[Tessa]

Happens all the time.

[Bee Girl]

Tessa, I assume youre talking about racial profiling.

[chad]

This is hard to explain by racial profiling alone... This is incompetence. I mean the kid was sober, driving his own car to his own house that he had lived in since he was 9 years old. The residents of the house come out and say "the car is not stolen, it is ours and this is our son". The mother get's manhandled, and then as the son who has been down on his knees merely rises to protest his mother being assaulted, he is shot (unarmed, which had already been established when they were put down on the ground)

Unfortunately, race does play a part in augmenting incompetence, and I doubt things would have ended this way had the victim been white. But I really EAGERLY await the report of the investigation to explain how this happened.

Rodney King got his ass kicked and he was driving 100 mph, high...
I really hope this does not lead to violence in the city, but it could... especially given how much of a voice the kids parents can generate given their extensive network of friends and family (many of who are celebrity baseball players)

I think the only way this ends well, is if this cop gets nailed to the wall. If they try to defend his actions and he does not get indicted or he gets acquitted...It could be South Central LA all over again.

By the way, the kid is my cousin.

[JustThink]

Really don't believe the Mother came out of the house all calm to confront the officer and the son should have stayed on the ground where he was told to stay. The problem today with the youth is that they don't think they have to listen to anyone. Mom should have stepped back and let officer do his job and kid should have stayed where he was told to stay. These officers put their lives in a dangerous situation everyday so how was he not to think that this was happening with two people getting out of control. There is no way this young man was still sitting on the ground when shot and that is clear to see by the location of missed shots at upper house level. This is not a racial situation.. this is a situation where there was no respect for the law. How could you not see that it was a police officer?? That story sounds a little far fetched for me boys... maybe it would be better to come up with a better story before you except us to believe that one.

[NotSoIdiot]

This young person has been searched before so definitely he is not carry any weapon(s). Why is that Police Officer not use a Tasser instead. At the same time all these officers ( whom some claimed that their lives in a dangerous situation as well ) all wear some sort of bullet proof vests as well. When this incident happens to you I probably will not believe in your version of the story as well.

[Another Black Male/White Cop Story]

I agree with you NotSoIdiot. JustThink, doesn't realize how often this happens in the black community.

Regardless of what the mom, or the young black man did or didn't do, the car clearly was not stolen. The police should have followed proper protocol, checked/ran the plates, as they always do when riding behind black people, man or woman, in a nice or not so nice car. They saw to black men in a nice neighborhood, shot first & asked questions later. What happened to cops identifying themselves first. The guys were laughing & talking, you flash your flashlight right in their eyes, without identifying yourself. I mean damn!!! I just pisses you off.

Why should we, black people, respect the law, when the law doesn't respect us. It happens all the time in the black community. I know of a few white people personally, who have been drunk, pulled over by white cops, cussing them out, trying to fight and grab at their guns, and all they did was take them to jail. Now, if a black man/woman had of done the same thing, they would not be living. It's a double standard, always has been, always will be. White people can literally get away with murder, but blacks, can be walking, minding their own business, and still get shot.

Cops get away with this all the time, they don't care, & it's getting worse & worse. There are a lot of good police officers out there, but, the bad cops make hard for the good ones.

This officer was wrong, wrong, wrong, and should be held accountable!!!!

[kdawg]

yeah white people get away with murder ALL the time just look at OJ Simpson oh wait he's black it's money that gets away with anything not white people

[Walk A Mile In My Shoes]

Kdawg, NO it is white people with a badge when racial profiling or not that get away with it. The old adage is still true........'talk to me when you have walked a mile in my shoes.' Money may have played a part for OJ but he also so had good lawyers......... Wow! Inconceiveable, that a black person got off because he had money! If the man is guilty, I am sorry that he (OJ)got off, but he if you are keeping score........... we are wayyyyyyy behind on the "Money Getting You Off Defense".... we being black people....... so white people missed one of us "oh well". The fact is that there is protocol and trust me as someone in this field it was not followed. I believe that officers should be better equipped than the criminal so that we are all safe........ but the unfortunate part of this is the one with the badge is always right unless you have eye witnesses or video proof, and/or damn good forensic's on your side. Protocol was ignored, racial profiling happened, I will offer not apologies to white people or law enforcement when I say that the Off. should be charged and the city of Bellaire, sued!....... To "Just Think" let me ask you,why is it that an officer would come up to you car and ask you to please step out? Yet, with these young men guns were drawn. Could it be that you are white, and/or a law enforcement officer? Why is it that this young man had to stay laying on the ground although the officer had received information that the vehicle was not stolen? Why weren't the plates run? Why did he not call for back up? He knew they were in the house. It obviously was there destination, stolen car or not. I facetiously say to you, oh yeah right you and/or your wife would not interfere when you see a commotion going on in your front yard involving your kid. Even the police department hasn't disputed the fact that the officer DID NOT IDENTIFY HIMSELF! How many times have we as citizens been warned that if you are stopped by an unknown person or persons to get to safety immediately.That safe haven was inside his home. Further,in Houston Texas there was a time when a person(s) were stopping innocent people and they were being robbed. We told by HPD and Harris County Sherriff Dept. to continue driving to a well lit location with people, and at anytime you may place a call and ask for a supervisor to come to the scene. Hmmmm, neither of those scenarios could have happened. Oh yeah, they were face down on the grown.Finally, "Just Think" how do you explain the bullet still lodged in a vital organ and from forensics indicating being shot in a kneeling position. But ultimately being shot PERIOD!!!!!!!!! HE HAD ALREADY BEEN SEARCHED!!!!!!!!!!

[TinkerToy]

OK..LETS TRY AND START OVER...first of all, 2 young (black)men were on their way home. (apparently being followed by police) They are driving in a suburban neighborhood in a very nice SUV. Now first the officer said he was investigating a stolen vehicle. My first question is why didnt he run the plates?? I have the answer to that question..because they saw who was in the vehicle and decided to follow them to see were they were going. Once they drove to that extremely nice Bellaire neighborhood, they then had the ASSUMPTION that they were about to do a job. As they pulled into THIER home, the officer just pulled in right behind them. (which means, he didnt run the plates with his lying tail). As the young men exited the vehicle as they were instructed to do, the loud aggressiveness from the officers voice alerted the family inside the home(and I might add, I am sure the officer knew whos home that was)the family came out of the home. The mother being protective as mothers do, wanted to know what the problem was, and was manhandled by the officer and her son, being the protective son that sons are for thier mothers, questioned the officer and was shot for it. The officer was out of line and out of order. If he had run the plates in the first place, none of this would have happened. Not only was this racial profiling, it was an ignorant act on the officers part. This is an example how 1 officer can make it hard for the community to trust any officers. One bad apple in a bag does NOT spoil the whole bunch, but it will make you select another bag of fruit. I hope justice is served to the officer who has "10yrs under his belt" and knows protocal as an officer of the law, and I do hope he gets what is coming to him as any man, woman, or child gets if the tables were turned and it was him getting what he gave!!!

[Jay]

This whole situation hurts my heart because this shooting did'nt have to take place. If you don't have the heart or courage to be a real police officers pu??y officer should not apply only real men and women who have the integrity to do the right thing should apply. Your job is to protect and serve all people, rich, poor, white, black, asian, spanish whatever. Any mother white , black, spanish will come to the defense of their child only natural but when it comes to a minority its like they should of only done this or acted this way please give me a racist break. You bother a white kid and watch the white mother go beserk on you its only a mother protecting their loved one. The cop that did this needs to pay the penalty whatever that is.

[A Black Man]

From a person who has been the receipiant of racial profiling on two occassions, once in Arizona the other in Tennessee. I can speak with authority on this matter. Each case I was told that I was pulled over for some B.S. reason, Arizona changed lane not allowing but .8 seconds distance between my car and the other car. Asked Arizons finest, how do you count by tenths of seconds, in Tennessee we count by thousand one, thousand two. In my home state of Tennessee, while leaving my own home pulled over on Dec 26th, 2006 cop said my tags had expired. Sticker on license plate Dec. 2006, whose registration expires in middle of month? Each time I was pulled over I was asked the same questions: whose car are you in? ans: Mine. Where do you work? ans: What does that have to do with you pulling me over? Where are you coming from? ans: Visiting friends? Where are you going? ans: To see America, if its still legal for a Black Man to travel. My family and I are upper middle class and have nice things and should not have to be treated in the manner that this young man was. The police are only thugs with uniforms, yeah they have tough jobs, we all do. The differnce is if I kill someone I have to pay for my crime. A cop kills someone and gets sent home with pay, its a win win for them.

[Cassie Canady]

fuckin cops. i just watched a video on tv of a crazy ass white man shooting at cop more then 30 times. they shot back a couple times but waited for the man to go back inside and put his gun down and come out. they then cowered up there with shields and arrested him. pussies. can shoot a black man for no reason. cant take out a white asshole pouring bullets into their cop cars. any one of them could have shot him. how about the dick that shot the puppy point blank cuz it was barking. or how about the cop that shot a woman in her front seat next to a 2 year old cuz she held up a cell phone and they "thought" it was a gun. cops are UNRELIABLE and feel that they can play god. fuck them all. im happy they didnt die and they should SUE THE FUCK OUTTA THE STATE.

[Atong Estrada]

I WILL FUKING SAY THIS AGAIN!!!

This is what happened when you put a gun on a pussy's hand...when a pussy get nervous they always tend to reach for the gun....but in this case the policemen involved are a hybrid of a pussy, an idiot and a racist.....a similar shit happened on the same date in an Oakland Metro station...but the black guy ended up dying on the spot...sad

[Sam]

What gives this away as racial profiling is the simple and only fact: The Police Officer NEVER RAN THE PLATES. If he/she suspected the vehicle was stolen then they would RUN the plates to see if it was stolen. This would give irrefutable evidence in stopping them.
The Police office never did this. He went on his "gut" feeling that a black person could not own such a vehicle and live in such a nice area. If he ran the plates he would have known right away the car was not stolen. That check would have taken less then 3 mins..Instead a man,innocent man was shot and now tax payers will pay UBER millions for this Police Officers actions. He should be charged and fired.

[Cassandra Canady]

A sad story indeed. Goes to show that racism is still going strong. Should have ran the plates. He should loose his badge.