Videos show scope of ex-officer’s actions; first public showing of shooting shown in court

Defendant Carmen DeCruz, a former Temple police officer charged in the Dec. 2, 2019, shooting death of Michael Dean, chats with one of his defense lawyers in the lobby of the Bell County Justice Center in Belton on Monday.
Temple Daily Telegram

Killeen Daily Herald
BY JOEL VALLEY | TELEGRAM STAFF
January 25, 2023

BELTON — For the first time, Bell County residents had a first-person view of the actions Carmen DeCruz took as a Temple Police officer on Dec. 2, 2019 — an evening that ended with the fatal shooting of Temple resident Michael Dean at the intersection of Little River Road and Loop 363.

His bodycam footage — long withheld from the public by the city of Temple — was played for jurors in its entirety in the 146th District Court at the Bell County Justice Center on Wednesday.


Carmen DeCruz

However, Temple Police Lt. Robert Mallett, the first witness called to the stand on Wednesday morning, told Bell County Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Newell how he and Texas Ranger Samuel Travis Dendy — who the Temple Police Department called in to lead the investigation — had the first look on the evening of the incident.

“We went to my office (where) I have access to the video system,” he said. “Once the bodycam that sits on the front of your chest is taken off, it has to be docked into a special station. Once it’s docked onto that station, the videos are downloaded to the server. I searched for it by his name and the date. We pulled that video up and then we watched.”

Although that video — similar to the dashcam footage shown in court on Tuesday — began with DeCruz initiating a traffic stop of Dean in his Chrysler PT Cruiser at the intersection of East Blackland Road and Little River Road, the first half primarily captured the dash and instrument panel within the marked patrol vehicle.

It was not until the intersection of Little River Road and Loop 363 — where Dean slowed to a stop for a red light after fleeing the initial traffic stop — where the footage began to show DeCruz pulling his patrol vehicle in front of the PT Cruiser, approaching with his police-issued handgun drawn, and demanding that Dean turn off the vehicle and hand him the keys.

“Then you see Carmen DeCruz reach into the vehicle,” said Newell, an assistant district attorney in Bell County for nearly two decades.

Mallet noted how that action is often advised against.

“Pretty much all the traffic stops that we practice and that we teach in the academy, we harp on not extending your body inside of the vehicle,” he said. “We always want to bring the person out to us. It’s not to say that sometimes you don’t have to go into a car … but we don’t want to extend our guns in a car. It’s too easy for somebody to grab a hold of that.”

As DeCruz met resistance obtaining the keys from Dean’s hands with his left hand, the Glock 22 that was in his right hand, a .40 caliber weapon, fired and struck Dean in the head. It was less than a half second after shouting his last command.

“Then you begin to see Michael slump over in his car,” Newell said.

After calling out over his radio that a shot was fired and that emergency medical services were needed, DeCruz yelled out two words before he began to pull Dean’s limp body out of the vehicle to administer first aid at the scene — “Oh (expletive)!”

“He realizes that Michael Dean is shot,” said Mallett, who testified that he believes that Dean committed a felony when he evaded the initial traffic stop.

Dr. Elizabeth Ventura, a Dallas County medical examiner who is board certified by the American Board of Pathology in both anatomic and clinical pathology, performed an autopsy less than two days later at 8 a.m. on Dec. 4, 2019.

“The bullet perforated the skin on the right side of the forehead,” she said during her testimony on Wednesday. “It then went through the frontal bone, which is that bone underneath the forehead. It then perforated the frontal lobe of the brain, the parietal lobe of the brain and the occipital lobe of the brain.”

One of the photographs taken during the autopsy performed on Dean, who weighed 152 pounds and measured five feet tall at the time of his death, depicted that wound for the jury. However, Dean’s family, who was in attendance, left the courtroom as each piece of graphic evidence was shown.

Ventura also noted other findings that included Dean having a blood alcohol content level of 0.20 — more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 in Texas, and having traces of marijuana in his system — drugs she stated could lead to decreased sensory responses, increased reaction times and loss of critical judgment.

Additional witnesses who were subpoenaed were heard from on Wednesday: Ashley Cunningham, a detective with the Temple Police Department; Adam Russell, a Texas Ranger with the Texas Department of Public Safety; and Nicholas Prouty, a Temple Police officer.

Despite the gunshot wound to the head, Prouty testified that Dean had a faint pulse when he arrived at the scene after DeCruz performed CPR until other officers arrived.

“When I got over there, I saw the passenger door of the PT Cruiser open and when I made the corner, I saw officer DeCruz wrapping gauze around a male that was on the ground,” Prouty, who later took over first aid measures with the help of other officers, said. “We kept trying to talk to Michael and get a response. I was asking him (questions) to see if he would respond in any kind of way. Michael’s mouth was moving and there was labored breathing.”

Although Temple Fire & Rescue took over life-saving measures shortly thereafter, Dean died at the scene.

State District Judge Paul LePak of the 264th District Court dismissed the courtroom for the day around 5 p.m. Testimony is expected to resume at 9 a.m. Thursday in the 146th District Court, a larger courtroom that has been used for the trial since jury selection began on Monday.

Dean’s shooting death received national attention as officer-involved shootings of black men were publicized following George Floyd’s death while in police custody in Michigan in 2020.

DeCruz could face two to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000 if he is convicted of the manslaughter charge.