Rocha's Death Involved Taser Confusion

Protesters and friends of Daniel Rocha have expressed anger toward APD with a memorial at the scene of the shooting. (Photo By John Anderson)

Austin Police Officer Julie Schroeder fatally shot 18-year-old Daniel Rocha on June 9 during a car stop connected with a drug investigation in Southeast Austin. Details of what happened near the intersection of Pleasant Valley Road and Quicksilver Boulevard are still sketchy as police conduct their investigation – first, an inquiry by homicide detectives (the results of which will be forwarded to the Travis Co. District Attorney's Office for presentation to a grand jury), then an internal affairs inquiry to determine whether the officers involved followed department policies and procedures. According to the official story, officers Schroeder and Michelle Borton were in the Bitter Creek area working a narcotics investigation as part of the APD's Southeast Street Response Unit when they pulled over a silver and blue Suburban carrying three suspects in that drug inquiry. Apparently, the Suburban had been seen leaving a nearby house that was a target location in the investigation. Sources tell us that Sgt. Don Doyle was following the Suburban and that Borton and Schroeder were in the area as backup, riding in an unmarked car. The two female officers met Doyle and the Suburban at the corner of Quicksilver and Pleasant Valley, where the Suburban stopped on its own. As the officers approached, one passenger jumped out, hopped a fence, and fled on foot. Borton was able to get the driver into custody (at press time, the driver's name had not been released), but Schroeder was not as successful in subduing Rocha, who the department says was resisting and fighting with her. Sources close to the investigation say Schroeder thought Rocha was going to surrender voluntarily, but Rocha instead pushed his way out of the rear door of the SUV and into Schroeder, in part by wrapping his arms around her waist and on top of her equipment belt.

As Schroeder struggled with Rocha, the sources say that Doyle tried to help, but was unsuccessful and was knocked to the ground by the 5-foot-6-inch, 132-pound Rocha; Doyle's right tibia was broken just above his foot during the altercation. Schroeder had also been knocked to her knees and, as she was rising, sources say she noticed that her electro-shock Taser gun was missing from her belt. Rocha was facing away from Schroeder, his hands out of sight, in a crouched or hunched position over Doyle. Thinking Rocha might be poised to use the missing Taser on Doyle (which could afford Rocha an opportunity to seize Doyle's gun or further injure the downed officer), Schroeder pulled her Glock pistol and fired a single 9mm shot into Rocha's back.

APD spokeswoman Toni Chovanetz said that she could neither "confirm nor deny" any "aspects of the case" except those that were summarized in a June 10 press release.

According to the Travis Co. Medical Examiner's Office, the round was fired at close range, with the muzzle of the gun held up against Rocha's shirt, but not pressed into his back, said ME Roberto Bayardo. The autopsy report also noted that Rocha was carrying a pair of "black steel 'knuckles'" in his front pocket at the time of his death; and an APD detective told the ME's office that police found a "baggie with a green leafy substance" on the ground near the passenger door of the Suburban. According to APD, Rocha was known by the Southeast officers and by Schroeder in particular. Indeed, Rocha had been arrested as recently as May 31 for stealing an elderly woman's wallet inside a local McDonald's; he had also been arrested for marijuana possession earlier this year and was on probation for burglarizing a home in Onion Creek last year.

Protesters gathered at APD headquarters on June 13 to decry the shooting at a demonstration organized by PODER's Young Scholars for Justice, who are asking that Schroeder be tried for murder. "Because a youth of color has a criminal record for nonviolent incidents it doesn't justify his murder," YSJ's Erika Gonzalez said in a press release announcing the Monday demonstration. But attorney Tom Stribling, who is representing Schroeder, said that he's "very confident that the facts justified [Schroeder's] use of force." (Still unclear is whether Rocha was a known gang member or whether the narcotics activity the officers were investigating had any gang connection. Officers at the scene Thursday night said there were many people flashing the "44" gang sign – adopted from Austin's 78744 zip code and allegedly used by members associated with the local Bloods gang – and repeating the word "payback" so that officers investigating the shooting could hear them.)

Unfortunately, although sources originally said that there would be video and audio of the incident, it appears that is not the case. Sources say Doyle's camera did not have videotape in it, and that Schroeder and Borton tried to activate their recorder but failed to put the switch fully into the "on" position. Although the department is supposed to be retrofitting all police cars so that the recorders go on automatically when the overhead lights are turned on, Borton and Schroeder's car had apparently not yet been retrofitted.

*Oops! The following correction ran in our June 24, 2005 issue: Last week the Chronicle incorrectly reported that 18-year-old Daniel Rocha was arrested as recently as May 31, for stealing a wallet from an elderly woman at an area McDonald's. (See, "Rocha's Death Involved Taser Confusion," News, June 17.) In fact, at the time of his death, there was a warrant out for Rocha's arrest for the May 31 wallet snatching. Rocha was already on probation for an August 2004 burglary and for a February charge of marijuana possession. In the same story, the Chronicle reported that Sgt. Don Doyle's leg was broken during the June 9 scuffle with Rocha. Since then, we have learned that Doyle's leg was not broken but was instead severely bruised. We regret the errors.