Episode 1 - Eula Mae Love & Michael Dean
Eula Mae Love was a mom and widow who was trying to make ends meet. Listen to find out how Eula went from a scuffle with a utility worker, to shot dead on her front lawn. Michael Dean was a young father running errands. His encounter with a police officer left him dead in his car with a bullet wound to his head.
Transcript
Hey, Family! Welcome to the Hands Up, Don't Shoot Podcast where I, your host, Ashley France-Howell, tell the stories of the lives of Black victims of police brutality. I’m so glad to have you as a listener. So thank you, thank you, and thank you for tuning in`. I'm very, very new to this podcast thing, so please bear with me as I work through this, get the kinks out, you know.
First I just want to say how happy I am that 2020 is behind us. And I'm hoping that 2021 is a little brighter. So, this podcast has been something that's been on my mind for a while, and I kept pushing it off, but it just kept coming back and just pushing me to get started. And, and I just couldn't say no, any longer. I kept seeing the videos popping up on my newsfeed and names being turned into hashtags and it was just so disheartening. And I just wanted to sort of do my part and speak out about it. And it just kind of made me think, like, how long has police brutality been going on? And my mind would usually go to the 1991 beating of Rodney King, who I will be covering in a later episode. His incident was caught on film 30 years ago this March. And so, while I'll be covering victims from different decades and walks of life, and areas of the country. I want to make sure that I bring to light the victims who are lesser known, but no less important, so I'll do a mix of more known cases, and those who are lesser known. And with that being said, I want to welcome you to episode one.
Today, I’ll be discussing the life and death of Eula Mae Love, and the life and death of Michael Dean. Eula was born on August, 8 1939, in Varnado, Louisiana, a small town about 70 miles north of New Orleans. In 1953, when Eula was a teenager, Her family moved across the country to Los Angeles, California. They wanted to try to get away from the segregated south, and try to live on the west coast where they thought they would be a contrast to the racism that they faced at home.
She attended Compton High School. And shortly after graduating, she began working in factories in Anaheim, California. She married a man named William, and together they moved into a home on South Orchard Avenue in West Athens, which is a southern Los Angeles neighborhood. And they had three girls together. In July of 1978. William, unfortunately passed away from complications of sickle cell anemia and Eula was left to care for her home, herself, and her three girls on his $680 a month Social Security benefits. She wasn't working at the time so that was pretty much all the income she had, so she had to take care of the mortgage and the bills and make sure girls are okay.
So, bills started to pile up, and Eula just became pretty overwhelmed. By January 3, 1979 Yo was behind about $66 on her gas bill. So, you guys remember this is 1979, so $66 Back then, I'm pretty sure it's a lot for a gas bill And the bill, it hadn't been paid since her husband was alive, six months earlier. So she was required to make a $22 minimum payment, or she would have her gas shut off. So, a serviceman from the gas company came to her house to collect the payment, or he would turn the gas off if she didn't pay.
When the serviceman came to her house, she became pretty upset, and she demanded that he leave, but he refused. So she then reportedly grabbed a shovel, swung at the man twice, hitting him in the arm. And this is kind of where things get a little muddy. So I've read different accounts on whether she chased him off of her property, or he ended up leaving on his own. But either way, he left. After he left, Eula took one of her daughters with her to the store to get a money order for the $22 minimum payment. She got the money order, she put it in her purse, and they started to walk back home. But while they were gone, the gas company serviceman had reached out to his supervisor about the attack, I guess to figure out what the next steps were. So the supervisor then sent two more servicemen in his place to Eula’s home to, I guess turn off the gas because by then they assumed they just weren't going to get that payment.
And at some point in that time, the police were called, and the servicemen were advised to just wait in their truck. They said don't even interact with her. We're gonna come take care of it. As Eula and her daughter were walking home, they spotted the servicemen that were waiting in the truck for the police, and she warned them not to turn her gas off. I read reports that there was some colorful language used, but that really hasn't been substantiated. So, when she warned them not to turn her gas off she went inside her home. A few moments later, Eula came out of the house with a boning knife in hand. And by that time, the police had arrived.
Eula was still standing in front of her home with the knife. And there were two officers who arrived. They were responding to what they had been told was a business dispute. They were Lloyd O’Callahan, who was white, and Edward Hobson who was Black. The officers got out of their car with their weapons drawn, demanding that Eula drop the knife. She refused, turned around, and began to walk back to her house. They started following her up her lawn, and then she turned back around to face them.
So, this is another part where witness accounts are a bit muddy, and I'm getting sort of two different stories about what happened in that moment. I'm not sure if you know, but witness testimony is probably one of the worst types of evidence. People remember things differently, or maybe see something that isn't there. Too much time passes and people forget, and so most of the time, witness accounts are fairly unreliable, and that's really unfortunate. Some sources say that Eula raised the knife, and others say that she raised the knife, then threw it in their direction. But what happens next is wild, and in my opinion, uncalled for. O’Callahan and Hobson fired 12 Shots at Eula Love, with eight of them hitting her in total. Seven of the bullets hit her in the lower body. But one bullet hit her in the chest. That was the fatal bullet. She fell to the ground, dying instantly. The officers then went to handcuff her dead body. Yes. They handcuffed her dead body. And all of this happened while two of her daughters were inside the house.
Eula Mae Love 39 years old.
According to police reports, the two officers claimed to have acted in self defense, but invoked their fifth amendment right on the question by the prosecutor. On April 17, 1979, after only about three months of investigation, both of the officers were exonerated by the Los Angeles County District Attorney, and it was concluded that their actions weren’t criminal. It was agreed that they did that act in self defense. And this sparked outrage in the Black Los Angeles community. It wasn't the first time that the LAPD was accused of using excessive force, and nothing was done about it.
I did read the New York Times article from October of 1979, that stated quote, “according to the American Civil Liberties Office here, the police shot 278 persons from 1975 to 1978, killing 123 of them. And none of the cases have ever gone before a jury.” End quote. The Los Angeles Police Department has had a history of racism and corruption, and Daryl Gates, the Police Chief at the time, was pretty hard on the Black and brown community. He allowed the notorious stop and frisk, and this is before it even had a name. Being Black or brown or walking in the street, or even driving, was equal to being suspicious.
The practices and policies have come a long way since the 1970s. And I think it's safe to say that Eula Mae Love did not die in vain. It made the department take a closer look at how they handle conflict and put in the effort to try to make a change in how they handle cases like this. So that was the life and death of Eula Mae Love.
Now, I’m going cover the life and death of Michael Dean, a young father taken too soon. Michael Lorenzo Dean was born on May 5, 1991 in Waco, Texas. His parents were Moses Dean Junior, Christine Dean. He had four brothers and four sisters. His friends and family called him Mike for short. Michael graduated from Temple High School in 2010 and later attended Temple College and Temple, Texas to pursue a degree in business. He was also a member of A New Day Fellowship Church in Temple, and his mother, Christine, called him a quote, “good hearted-person,” and said he’d do anything for anyone, and give God credit for everything.
He was a father of three girls: Ah’Nyla, Te’Yanna, and Destiny. On December 2, 2019 Michael was out running errands, and that evening, he was spotted by Temple police officer, Carmen DeCruz. It was reported that Michael was speeding. So DeCruz went to try to pull him over. When it was clear that Michael wasn't going to stop, a short chase ensued. The police claimed that he was evading, while Michael's family claimed that since the road they were on didn't have any street lights, Michael may have been trying to get to a better lit area. But again, three sides of the story, and we don't have Michael’s side.
So eventually, Michael stopped his car at an intersection, and DeCruz then pulled his police cruiser around the front of Michael’s car to block him. Based on the review of the body cam and dash cam footage, DeCruz came up to Dean’s car, weapon in hand. But before we continue, let’s diverge a bit real quick. Just so you know, the footage has not been publicly released. So, we are actually relying on the word of Henry Garza, the Bell County Texas District Attorney. Because the case is still active, they cannot release it to the public. So until DeCruz’s trial happens or is concluded, we as the public cannot see what happened.
Okay, so let’s get back. Like I was saying earlier, DeCruz was coming up to the passenger side of the car. Again, weapon in hand, and told Michael to turn the engine off and give him the keys. But before Michael could do anything, DeCruz reached through the passenger window to grab the keys from the ignition. He had the weapon in his right hand finger on the trigger, and he was reaching for the keys with his left.
According to the arrest affidavit quote, “officer DeCruz pulled on the keys of his left hand, and his right hand also pulls backwards, causing the handgun to fire striking Dean in the head.” End quote. Michael was not armed. Witnesses said that they saw DeCruz pulling Michael from the passenger side of the car, and he and other officers attempted to give medical aid until the medics arrived. But unfortunately, Michael was pronounced dead at the scene.
Michael was 28 years old.
The Temple police have been pretty tight lipped about the whole thing, especially since the Texas Rangers came in and basically took over the scene and took over the investigation. And the Texas Rangers have jurisdiction in the whole state, and not just the city or county. And so they can do a lot more. And no information had been released about the shooting until the next day. And the information that was released was pretty limited. They said, even his family wasn't notified until hours later about his death.
DeCruz was placed on paid administrative leave. And this happened about a week after the shooting, while the investigation started. And then, a little over a week after that, DeCruz resigned, and people were pretty upset that he was able to resign during the investigation. A month after the shooting police report was released, and I took a look at it and it's really really sparse. I'm not sure if I just wasn’t able to see the full thing, or it really looked like that, but it was, I think about two pages long and very very limited and ambiguous information. It didn’t really give too many details about what happened. And so I’m wondering if there is more out there, but if not I’m sorry but that is a really sad police report.
According to one article that I read, this is not the first time that DeCruz has been accused of using excessive force. It was reported that back in 2017, he and his partner at the time ran out a 15-year-old boy on purpose, and let their car idle on top of him for 10 minutes. He received second and third degree burns on many parts of his body and his mom ended up suing because of that. It’s so sad and so crazy. I can’t imagine being under an idling car for that long. Or just being okay with having someone under your car for that long. That’s pretty hard to wrap my head around.
Two months after the shooting on February 10, 2019 DeCruz was charged with manslaughter, which is a second degree felony. But that wasn't enough for Michael's family. They wanted him to be charged with first degree murder. DeCruz was arrested and placed in jail. And his bond was initially set at half a million dollars, but for some unknown reason, shortly after, it was lowered to $80,000. And because of that, he was able to make bond, and was released from prison at the end of March 2020 to await his trial. A year after the shooting, the family of Michael Dean was still seeking answers from the police.
A pre-trial date for the DeCruz was set for January, 15 2021, but in my research, I couldn't find anything beyond that. I'm pretty sure the pandemic has probably postponed the trial, but I did see that in Bell County, Texas jury trials are only permissible if the supreme court allows it, and if any updates come up, I'll be sure to let you guys know on a later episode.
So that was the life and death of Michael Dean. Next week, I'll be covering the cases of Rekia Boyd and Randolph Evans. Thanks again for listening, and don't forget to subscribe to make sure you get the latest episodes, and please give me a five star rating. Stay safe, and I'll see you next week.
