Episode 3 - Pamela Turner & Miriam Carey
Pamela Turner was out one night picking up trash in her neighborhood. She was confronted by one of her neighbors, who also happened to be an on-duty police officer. Their encounter ends with five bullets fired from his gun. While Miriam Carey was driving in the Nation’s Capital, she made a wrong turn that resulted in her life being taken away.
Transcript
Hey, family! Welcome to another episode of the Hands Up Don't Shoot podcast, where I, your host, Ashley France-Howell, tell the stories of black victims of police brutality. Thanks for listening. Now, I don't have any updates but I do want to give you all a trigger warning for this episode. I will be playing the audio from a cell phone video that was taken. It contains gunshots. So, I'll let you know again when I play it, and if you're uncomfortable, you can skip ahead to the next part.
This is episode three. Today, I'll be telling you the stories of Pamela Turner and Miriam Carey. Pamela Shantay Turner was born on April 8,1975 to parents, Helen Ruth Frye Turner and Douglas MacArthur Turner in Natchez, Mississippi. She was raised in Fayette Mississippi, and attended schools in Jefferson County, until she graduated high school in 1993. Shortly after graduating, she moved a couple states over to Baytown Texas, where she made that her permanent resident. It was said that Pamela loved helping people and putting smiles on their faces. And she was a unit coordinator at San Jacinto Hospital in Baytown Texas for 20 years. She was able to interact directly with patients and give back to the community at the same time. And so by doing her job, she was able to kind of fulfill her passion. She had two children, named Chelsea and Cameron, and three grandchildren: Serenity, Aniya, and London; and her dog Chi-Chi. She loved her family so much.
On the evening of May 13 Officer Juan De La Cruz was patrolling the Brixton apartment complex area on Garth Road in Baytown, Texas De La Cruz had recognized Pamela and stopped his patrol car when he saw her. He knew who she was because they were neighbors, and had lived in the same apartment complex. Pamela's sister said that she was out picking up trash in the neighborhood, which is something that she did often. And De La Cruz tried to arrest Pamela because they had some prior dealings, and he knew that she had some outstanding low level misdemeanor warrants. So when De La Cruz tried arresting Pamela, there was a struggle. A neighbor saw the struggle, and he pulled out his phone to try to capture what was going on. So now this is where I'm going to play the audio altercation. And so if the sound of gunshots makes you uncomfortable, then I suggest skipping ahead about 45 seconds. Okay, Here goes.
Now, I know that this audio is pretty difficult to understand, so I'm going to try to explain what happened in the best way I can. First, I don't know if you noticed, but it was something that I definitely did. I never heard De La Cruz’s voice. Throughout the video, De La Cruz never gave any verbal commands, or even told Pamela why he was arresting her. Now I'm not saying that he didn't say anything, because for all we know, he may have said something before the cameras started rolling. But in the video, I never heard his voice.
So we hear Pamela saying, “I'm walking! I'm walking! I'm actually walking to my house! You're actually harassing me!” And De La Cruz continues to chase Pamela as she tries to walk away. And then he becomes physical with her. He pulled out his taser, and tased Pamela, and then knocked her to the ground. Then there was more struggling and more scuffling while he was still trying to arrest her. And Pamela can be heard saying, “Why? Why? I'm pregnant!” And while she's on the ground, she reaches out towards him, and a few seconds later, the video stops. But the audio continues right after De La Cruz steps back. And then we see him raise his gun at Pamela, and then we hear five shots. Pamela was pronounced dead at the scene.
She was 44 years old.
After the shooting, Officer De La Cruz was placed on paid leave. And he was able to return to work less than two weeks later to what was called a non enforcement role, which I'm assuming is just another term for administrative duty. We don't have an account directly from De La Cruz about what happened, but a police spokesperson said that he shot her because Pamela took his taser, and shot him with it. But this can be disproven. And the family didn't know this fact until a year after the shooting.
So in the research, I learned that the type of Taser that De La Cruz used was one that was only able to be fired once before having to install a new cartridge. So to me it sounds like the police spokesperson is saying that during the scuffle, De La Cruz was able to eject the old cartridge, install the new one, and then have Pamela take it and shoot him with it. Is that possible? Maybe. But I think it's highly, highly unlikely. And after watching the video a few times. I just, I didn't see it. And I didn't see like, at what point it could have happened. Another thing that was in the video was when Pamela mentioned that she was pregnant, and an autopsy showed that she wasn't. So they kind of link this to Pamela's paranoid schizophrenia diagnosis that she received in 2005. So people think she may have been confused since her daughter had just given birth a few days earlier. But honestly, I think she was just trying to protect herself. I think that if you're face to face with a gun, you're going to do and say whatever you can to avoid being shot, I mean I know, I probably would. I really think that's what she was doing.
In September of 2020 De La Cruz turned himself in. And his bail was set at $25,000, which he posted. And he was indicted by a grand jury in Harris County, Texas on one count of aggravated assault by a public servant. And that's a first degree felony. And because of that, a conviction would give him five years to life. At that time he was still on administrative duty while the Texas Rangers investigated the case, and his court date was set for October 28 2020. I haven't found any updates but I'm assuming COVID has put a hold on the trial, and this case is still ongoing.
But I really do hope some good comes out of it for Pamela's family. And if there are any updates, I will definitely be sure to let you all know what happens. That was the life and death of Pamela Turner.
Now, I'm going to tell you the story of Miriam Carey. Miriam Iris Carey was born on August 12 1979. She was raised in Brooklyn, and called it home for the majority of her adult life. Miriam graduated from Clara Barton Professional Health High School, and spent the first six months of 1997 interning as a dental assistant at Long Island College Hospital. In 2002 Miriam earned her associates degree in dental hygiene from Hostos Community College, and later attended Brooklyn College, where she graduated with her bachelor's degree in 2007. She worked in dental offices in the surrounding area, and from 2009 to 2012, she attended Pitt Community College online, and earned another degree in Medical Sonography. And during that time, she moved to Stamford, Connecticut.
On October 3, 2013 Merriam and her one year old daughter were driving in downtown Washington DC. She ended up at the White House security checkpoint, and that's where Secret Service came up to her car. There weren't any words exchanged, but a Secret Service officer did say, “whoa, whoa!” And I think it's safe to say that Miriam probably realized that she was somewhere she wasn't supposed to be, so she attempted to make a three point turn. And while she was making this turn, one of the officers tried to block her car with a barricade. In pictures, you can see where he's holding up that metal gate. It looks like he has a cooler in his hand as well, but he was trying to block her in. But she hit him, and drove away.
And it was reported that Miriam drove down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the Capitol. And that's where security vehicles attempted to stop her again at Garfield Circle. So she put her car in reverse and hit another police car that tried to block her in. And officers were beginning to close in on her with their weapons drawn. As she drove away, the officers fired a few shots at her car. So, I do want to pause for a second because that made me a bit uncomfortable when I read it. Now, obviously they see her as a threat, and they want to stop this threat. right? But they're on a public street, and in the public street, there are people and there are other cars. And so what I want to know is why they were firing their weapons at a fast moving target on this public street. I mean I guess, were they not thinking about the civilians that could have been hit with a stray bullet, or, you know, anything that could have happened. Let me know what you guys think in the Facebook group. That's something I want to chat about maybe get some more insight as to what maybe could have been on their minds.
But let's get back to the story. There's video footage that shows Miriam speeding away from the White House toward the Capitol. And she ended up crashing her car into security barriers around the Capitol. And after the car stopped, the Capitol police officers and Secret Service agents; they just fired more shots into her car. Miriam was hit by five of those bullets. One bullet hit her in the left side of the back of her head. Three hit her in the back, and one hit her in the left arm. Still in the backseat was Miriam's daughter, and thankfully she was untouched.
Miriam was 34 years old.
Miriam's autopsy results showed that there were no drugs, there was no alcohol or anything in her system. And three months after the autopsy reports were released, judges ruled that the Capitol police officers and the Secret Service agents were not going to face any criminal charges, but they were placed on administrative leave. And the case was never presented before a grand jury, and it was closed. It was claimed that their shooting was justified because they believe she could have posed a threat. The officers acted as if she were armed or maybe even had a bomb, and their job was to eliminate that threat. On the other hand, Miriam's family said that she was unfamiliar with the area and was just attempting to make a U turn. And they believe that she shouldn't even have been chased to begin with.
The family filed a claim against the Department of Justice, the Secret Service, and the US Capitol Police for $75 million, but so far nothing has come of it. The Capitol siege that happened on January 6, 2021 brought back memories for Miriam's family. They saw how the pro-Trump mob was treated. And that was much unlike how Miriam was treated. Miriam’s sister Valerie said, quote, “They were handled with care with consideration, as if they were individuals or people. They didn't see my sister as a person. I don't even believe they would have shot a dog in the street that way.” End quote.
The family is petitioning the Department of Justice to reopen the case, and the family attorney says that the swiftness with which the recent US capital breach is being investigated, should have also been applied to Miriam's Case. Miriam’s daughter is now eight years old, and to this day, the family still hasn't told her how her mom died. And they are still holding out hope that they will receive some kind of justice for Miriam. Those are the stories of Pamela Turner and Miriam Carey.
Thank you so much for listening. Remember you can find me on Facebook by searching for the Hands Up Don't Shoot podcast group, and on Instagram at HUDSpod. You can send me an email at hudspod@gmail.com. And you can check out my website www.hudspod.com. And remember HUDSpod is spelled HUDSPOD. Don't forget to subscribe to make sure you get the latest episodes, and if you don't mind, please leave me a five star review. Stay safe, and I'll see you next week.
