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Texas Accident Victims - News You Can Use

Cop Shoots Suspect after Christmas Day Car Accident in Houston

Posted on Jan 14, 2012

A family is raising questions after their uncle was shot to death by a police officer in Houston.

Just before midnight on Christmas Day, Blake Pate was driving his Camaro to a family member’s house in Houston when he lost control of the vehicle, crashing into a ditch near an apartment complex.

An officer saw the accident as he was leaving the complexoff Tidwell and Mesa road. According to an eyewitness, the officer was trying to arrest Pate but shot him when Pate made a sudden movement.

"He told him to go to the other side of the police car, and when he went to other side of the police car, he called him back and the guy stuck his hands out, and he started shooting, and the man fell forward,” the witness said in a statement.

The officer, Sergeant Curtis Hampton, tells a different story.

"At one point, the officer wound up on his back on the ground with the suspect standing directly over him. That suspect then reached for the officer and the officer, fearing for his safety, fired his duty weapon, striking the suspect," HPD Spokesman Kese Smith said.

The eyewitness has attested that she did not see a struggle before Pate was fatally injured. Family members are demanding an investigation into the shooting.

"There is too much information missing between him being told to stop with the officer's weapon drawn and him scuffled to the ground," Miles Jones, Pate’s nephew, said.

Houston Police did not find a weapon in Pate’s possession, and a lieutenant reportedly said that the department does not believe the suspect was armed.

Sergeant Hampton was uninjured and is on three-day administrative leave during the investigation of the incident.

The attorneys and staff at Vujasinovic & Beckcom wish to send their deepest condolences to the victim’s family during this difficult time.