A Texas cop was convinced that a car he spotted in a McDonald’s parking lot Sunday evening was the same car that had evaded him during a pursuit the night before.
San Antonio police officer James Brennand walked up to the car, opened the door and ordered the teenager in the driver’s seat to “get out of the car.”
Eric Cantu, 17, who was sitting in the driver’s seat eating a hamburger appeared startled and asked, “why?”.
Cantu then put the car in reverse as the cop tried to grab hold of him to pull him out the car.
The cop fired ten shots at the car as it pulled out of the parking lot. Cantu was struck several times but his 17-year-old female passenger was not struck. Police found the pair a block away and Cantu was transported to a hospital.
Brennand claimed the teen struck him which was why he fired.
Although it turned out that neither Cantu or his car had anything to do with the prior police pursuit, the teen was still charged with assault on a peace officer and evading detention.
Brennand, a rookie cop with only seven months on the job, was terminated because he still on his one-year probation period.
“Officers are prohibited from shooting at moving vehicles unless it’s in defense of life, and that particular case that evening was not in defense of life,” San Antonio Police Chief William McManus told KENS 5.
“There’s nothing that I can say that could defend what he did, his actions that night.”
Watch the video below.
UPDATE: The cop has been arrested.
