Aaron Dean is a former police officer who resigned from the force just after committing the murder of a black woman, Atatiana Jefferson on Saturday, October 12, 2019.
Wiki/Biography
Aaron York Dean was born in 1985 (age: 34 years, as in 2019) in Arlington, Texas, United States. He received his education from the Fort Worth Police Academy, Texas. In 2011, he received his bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of Texas. He had been serving in the Police Department in Fort Worth, Texas since 2018 but resigned from the police on Monday, October 14, 2019.
Controversy
On Saturday, October 12, 2019, Dean along with his colleague entered the house of Atatiana Jefferson (28 years old) on a non-emergency call from Jefferson’s neighbor, James Smith (62 years old).
A photo of Atatiana Jefferson
Mrs Jefferson was home with her 8-years old nephew. Before shooting her, Dean shouted, “Put your hands up. Show me your hands!” He can be seen in footage made by his body camera. When he felt threatened, he pulled out a gun and fired a single bullet through the window that killed Jefferson just after 2:30 a.m.
James Smith is a neighbor of late Atatiana Jefferson. On Saturday night, he noticed that the door of Jefferson’s house was open and lights were on. He made a call to a non-emergency number for a welfare check but Dean killed an innocent woman.
“If I had never dialled the police department, she’d still be alive.” Mr Smith said to local media. “It makes you not want to call the police.”
On Monday, October 14, Dean resigned from the force before being taken into custody at 6 p.m. He was charged with murder. He wrote a letter to the interim Dallas Police Chief, Ed Kraus. Kraus said in a press conference that he would have fired the officer, had he not resigned.
Aaron Dean’s letter to Kraus
However, after a short apprehension, he was released on bail by filling $200,000 bonds.
The shooting of Jefferson drew national attention. The officials of the Fort Worth Police Department felt sorry and said that they took Jefferson’s death seriously. On Sunday evening, hundreds of people gathered for a rally and vigil on the same street where Jefferson’s home is situated.
The circumstances that led to the reaction by Aaron Dean and caused the tragic (unquestionably) avoidable death of Atatiana Jefferson are common throughout America, let alone the wider world.
Many (innocent) lives have been destroyed in that way.
It begs the question in my mind about when the police will start to learn and thereby prevent (to an extent) this terrible cycle from repeating itself.