Civil Rights leaders call for Justice Department to look into Bobby Bennett shooting
A mentally ill man was shot on Monday after police were called to his home in Dallas.
Police shot Bobby Bennett, 52, in front of his mother’s house. She had called 911 out of concern for her sons’s safety. Bennett had a pocketknife on him and she thought that he might hurt himself.
Police say they shot Bennett, who had schizophrenia because he lunged at them while pointing a knife, but video surveillance captured by a neighbor says otherwise. Civil rights leaders are calling for the justice department to look into the case.
At a Friday news conference, the Rev. Ronald Wright of Justice Seekers Texas said Officer Cardan Spencer had no justification for shooting Bobby Gerald Bennett, 52, on Monday. Spencer’s account of the incident wouldn’t have been questioned if not for the tape, Wright said. “By the grace of God, the video camera caught this particular shooting,” he said.
Read more at Dallas Morning News
The activists also cited other police shootings, the most recent being the fatal shooting of Clinton Allen. Spencer was placed on administrative leave indefinitely.
Bennett remains hospitalized in critical condition.
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