BELL COUNTY, Texas — Here is a recap of everything that took place during day three of the trial of former Temple Police Officer Carmen DeCruz.
DeCruz is accused of killing Michael Dean during a traffic stop in 2019.
At the start of the third day of trial, Temple Police Commander Over Professional Standards Robert Mallett took the stand to examine the body camera footage the state attorney provided for the courtroom and jury to see.
Part of Mallett's job responsibilities include listening to communication on the radio. On the night of the shooting, Mallett heard DeCruz over the radio and recanted the events of that night. He also answered questions regarding proper protocols of Temple PD and how DeCruz handled the traffic stop.
Mallett got emotional on the stand prior to detailing the events on the night of the incident.
The video was a little over three minutes long. It began with DeCruz driving his Temple PD patrol car and pursuing Dean at high speed.
At one point in the video, the patrol car DeCruz is driving can be seen clocking Dean driving at 77 mph on a 40 mph speed limit road.
During the pursuit, Mallett made it clear DeCruz did not share his location during the pursuit and had minimal contact with dispatch during the pursuit.
To stop Dean from driving any further, DeCruz used a 'blocking maneuver' hitting Dean's car on the top left drivers side with the top right passenger side of his patrol car.
Mallett told the court using the 'blocking maneuver' to stop a driver from driving any further is something that is not taught by the police academy and is frowned upon at Temple PD.
Right after DeCruz and Dean's cars made contact, DeCruz is seen exiting his patrol car. He approaches Dean's car from the passenger side and yells out commands to Dean.
Some of the commands were "Stop the car" and "Open the car".
Dean was playing loud music in his car, so some of the commentary could not be heard clearly, but he did respond after hearing DeCruz shout demands.
DeCruz then tells Dean to exit the car from the passenger side. After that, DeCruz asks Dean to turn his car off and take his key out of the ignition.
"Keys out," DeCruz says.
After taking out the keys, Dean responds by saying "It's off,".
Then, DeCruz asks Dean to give him the keys. DeCruz can be seen reaching for the keys through the car on the video in one hand and in the other hand, DeCruz had his firearm extended.
Mallett told the court reaching into a persons vehicle with a gun extended is not something Temple PD recommends because it puts the officer and the person in danger.
DeCruz then shouts "Give me the keys,". After that, one gun shot can be heard and this is allegedly the shot that killed Dean.
After the gun shot, Dean can be seen slowly slumping over in the drivers seat. You then hear DeCruz shout a profanity.
DeCruz then grabs Dean's slumped over body and begins extracting Dean from the vehicle. It's not seen what happens after extracting Dean from the vehicle because the camera shuts off.
The defense attorney defended DeCruz explaining that the reasoning behind the initial pursuit was that Dean was not compliant and was a risk to the public while on the road.
Dallas County Medical Examiner Dr. Elizabeth Ventura conducted Dean's autopsy Dec. 4. She told the court Dean had a blood alcohol level of 0.2. The legal blood alcohol limit when driving in Texas is 0.08.
Marijuana was also found in Dean's system but there is no way to tell he had any intake of marijuana around the time of the pursuit because marijuana staying in the system after intake for about a month.
However, Texas DPS Texas Ranger Adam Russell, one of the witnesses who took the stand, told the court there was fresh marijuana ash found inside of Dean's vehicle after the shooting.
Russell also mentioned how any drug or alcohol intake can affect a persons motor skills and cause them to be slow to respond to commands.
The state attorney is pleading the case that DeCruz did not follow proper protocol when pursuing Dean and DeCruz did not 'Protect and Serve' in this situation.
According to another detective who took the stand, there is additional video outside of the dash and body camera footage taken by a witness of the incident.
No word on if it will be shown in the courtroom.
The last two detectives who took the stand explained how when they arrived on the scene after the shooting, Dean's mouth can be seen moving and Dean had a pulse.
When they attempted to administer an AED, the machine recommended Dean did not need a shock.
Compressions did continue, but a pulse was eventually lost.
Day four continues on Jan. 26. 6 News will provide more details as they become available.