Dallas News | myFOXdfw.com In December of last year, Kelvion Walker became another black teenager shot by a police officer. He had jumped into the passenger's seat of a car his friend had stolen without his knowledge, but his friend bailed when Officer Amy Wilburn approached. This left Walker alone in the car. He put his hands up, but Wilburn shot him. Now, according to documents submitted in Walker's federal court case Monday, Dallas Police Department brass believe Wilburn acted "recklessly."
"I really believe leading up to the event, she violated so many of our rules and procedures that exposed herself to an unnecessary situation," Assistant Chief Thomas Lawrence, who was promoted to the position in 2010, said during a deposition. "I believe at the point the shooting occurred, she just -- I just don't believe she was justified [in shooting him]. I don't think she was reasonably in fear to the level that we expect a reasonable officer to be."
Lawrence went on to say that the shooting itself wasn't just reckless, but that Wilburn's behavior leading up to it was as well.
See also: Kelvion Walkers Says He's Not a Carjacker, Has No Idea Why a Dallas Cop Shot Him
"The reckless part of it characterizes the context of the whole event, not just the shooting," Lawrence said. "The jumping out, running up there, immediately engaging, not doing the things that we teach them to do, not taking any kind of safety precautions, that's -- taken as a whole, I believe that was just a -- in terms of -- I'm not using the term reckless in terms of the legal term you're used to; in reasonable terms the way police act, that she acted recklessly as far as police conduct would be concerned. I believe it was kind of careless disregard for the rules and procedures and stuff."
See also: Kelvion Walker, the Man Shot Monday by Dallas Police, Had His Hands in the Air, Witness Says
The newly filed documents also show that Wilburn rushed to the car Walker was sitting in despite information that Walker was armed, which was false. However, believing that he was armed, Wilburn should have stayed away from the vehicle, in adherence with the department's use of force policy.
Wilburn, who had been on the force since 2001, was fired soon after she shot Walker.
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