BELL COUNTY, Texas — The Central Texas community is still sharing their thoughts and emotions towards the verdict for the Temple Police officer charged in connection to the shooting death of Michael Dean in 2019.
A Bell County jury acquitted former Carmen DeCruz of second degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide on Tuesday.
Former Killeen Police Chief Charles Kimble has 30 years of law enforcement experience and he has said this isn't the first time he has seen a case like the one of DeCruz. We recently talked to him about the Tyre Nichols case out of Memphis, Tenn.
He told 6 News verdicts in high profile cases like DeCruz can be unpopular whether guilty or not, and that they can bring even more tension in a community.
"We know that the results of those verdicts, no matter what they are, can be very unpopular and can strain a community," Kimble said.
He said the most strained relationship in these situations tend to be the communities of color and police.
"Of course it degrades the trust that we build up on, that many police departments or police chiefs try to build within their communities and then to have something like this, it's really hard to foster those relationships," the 30-year-veteran explained.
Kimble said the mending of the severed relationship starts with police listening and having the open, honest conversations.
"We have to understand that people will be upset," Kimble said. "We have to reach out to leaders in the communities that have a voice and you have to listen to all voices."
He also said it's also going to take removing the ones that damage the law enforcement profession and those who honorably serve on the blue line.
"We as leaders we need to identify those sour apples, or we find the people that misuse and abuse the trust -- that cancer has to be cut out immediately," he said. "We can't let it stay in our profession, particularly if we're going to try to improve our relationship with our communities, particularly the communities of color in this country."
Kimble was in Central Texas when the deadly interaction between DeCruz and Dean took place in 2019. Being familiar with the case, he believes things went south quick after DeCruz did a blocking maneuver to Dean's car -- which wasn't procedural.
"It's been my experience that once you step out of policy you continue to go out of policy and things go left very quickly and I think that's exactly what happened in this incident," Kimble added.
Many across the region have been wanting the body camera footage of the deadly interaction between Dean and DeCruz to be released, but Kimble says it's not that easy as there are laws and guidelines that must be followed. He said other factors could be playing a role, too.
"People will have to take the pulse and the temperature of the community to visually find out what is best and I'm sure conversations are being had with the family," he said. "You have to be very sensitive to these things. Sometimes you think you want to see their body camera, but there are family members affected by this."