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Pamela Turner’s body on Thursday was heading back to Mississippi in a casket for one final trip home.
After Turner’s funeral service, her niece, Tomeka Johnson, tried to decompress while watching the news from the couch at her northwest Houston home. But there was no escape from the story of Turner’s shooting death. On the television news crawl, she read that the police officer who shot and killed her aunt had returned to duty
Earlier in the day, Turner’s 90-minute funeral had been a solemn, and at times, hope-filled, affair. Grieving family members shared memories – how Turner loved to cook, how she was great mother to her two children, how much she cherished her dog Chi-Chi, how she always gave to those in need. A gospel choir roused the attendees with uplifting hymns, and throughout, civil rights leaders appealed to the crowd with calls to action.
“We marched from Trayvon’s (Martin) case, and we marched for Eric Garner and we marched for Michael Brown,” said Rev. Al Sharpton, as he eulogizied Turner and listed other police shootings that took the lives of unarmed black people. “And we will march to Baytown until justice comes to Baytown.”
The mourners could not ignore that the Baytown Police Department, just prior to the funeral, announced that the officer in Turner’s shooting already had returned to his job. While Juan Delacruz, an 11-year veteran of the force, is not back on patrol, he was placed on administrative duties on Monday after a standard three-day paid administrative leave, spokesman Lt. Steve Dorris said in an email Thursday morning.
The decision did not sit well with several civil rights advocates at the funeral at Lilly Grove Missionary Church in south Houston.
“Law enforcement officers are supposed to be keepers of the peace,” attorney Lee Merritt said. “They are intentionally agitating this community.”
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U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee called on the U.S. Department of Justice to open a civil rights investigation into the shooting, and questioned whether Turner’s rights were violated under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Turner had paranoid schizophrenia, which her family believes was known by Delacruz and the Baytown Police Department.
“I believe there is no doubt there’s a federal question here,” Jackson Lee said.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office Civil Rights Division is investigating the shooting and will bring the evidence to a grand jury, authorities have said. The Texas Rangers has taken over a parallel investigation, while the Baytown Police Department is running a separate internal affairs investigation to determine whether department policy was followed.
Turner was walking at her apartment complex in the 1600 block of Garth Road when she was approached by Delacruz the night of May 13. He said he was attempting to arrest her on open warrants when the two began to struggle. Delacruz shocked Turner with the Taser, after which he said the woman deployed the Taser against him. He fired five shots, Dorris said.
A bystander captured the encounter in a now-viral video, which showed Turner yelling that she was being harassed and that she just wanted to go home.
She yelled “I’m pregnant,” which police later said wasn’t true. The video showed Delacruz standing over Turner before he appeared to back away. Then, the five shots sounded.
Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Turner’s family, said that funeral directors had to reconstruct the 44-year-old woman’s face, because she was shot in the cheek in addition to shots in the abdomen and chest. Official autopsy results from Harris County have not been released.
Turner’s injuries were not visible, and funeral goers approached the casket, remarking how beautiful she looked. She laid in a white dress, with a lavender scarf tied in a bow around her neck. A bouquet of purple and pink roses and lilies cascaded over the lower half of her body.
“She looked like herself,” said Johnson, who works in a law office.
Other mourners seemed encouraged by the songs of the Lilly Grove Missionary Baptist Church Choir. When a cantor sang, “I’ll fight your battles if you would only trust me,” dozens stood up with cries of praise.
Turner’s daughter, Chelsie Rubin, later read the church a poem “Remember Me,” written by Anthony Dowson. She stood next to her brother, Cameron January, and told of a mother who always supported them in their endeavors.
Turner previously was a unit coordinator at Houston Methodist San Jacinto Hospital in Baytown before taking a leave because of her health, her family said. Turner is scheduled to be buried on Saturday in Fayette, Miss
“It’s really hard for us, but I know she’s looking down and she’s watching us and she’s proud,” Rubin said. “She’s proud of how strong we’re being. I love you, mom. I love you so much.”
Antoinette Dorsey-James, who described herself as a “second mom” to Turner, said that Turner, scheduled to be buried on Saturday in Fayette, Miss., had a good relationship with God and is already reunited with him in Heaven. Her message of mental health awareness will continue, she said.
“Pam was only existing on this earth,” Dorsey-James said. “Now, she lives.”