Ft. Worth Man is Year's 12th Drug Law Enforcement Fatality

A Fort Worth, Texas, police shot officer and killed a local man as he attempted to elude arrest after police doing narcotics investigations pulled him over in his vehicle Monday night. The victim, 32-year-old Charal "Ra Ra" Thomas, is the 12^th person killed so far this year in US drug law enforcement operations.

According to a police statement, undercover officers had reports that Thomas may have been involved in drug trafficking and had been conducting surveillance in the Rosedale Park area when they requested that a patrol officer identified as J. Romer pull him over for an outstanding warrant. Thomas was driving an SUV with his three children in the back seat.

"The driver stated that he was not going to jail and locked the door," the statement said. "The officer reached into the half-opened window and attempted to unlock the door to extract the driver. While reaching in the window, the driver rolled up the window trapping the officer's arm, while simultaneously accelerating towards the freeway."

Police said Officer Romer yelled for Thomas to stop numerous times, but Thomas continued accelerating.

"The officer was able to place his feet on the driver's side running board, unholster his service weapon and order the driver to stop," the statement said. When Thomas failed to stop, Romer opened fire. "The officer believed that, at the speed they were now traveling, he would have been run over and killed if he did not immediately stop the driver," the statement said.

Officer Romer was uninjured, as were Thomas's three children, who were interviewed and then released to relatives.

The killing sparked a protest by Stop Six neighborhood residents, who said the shooting was unjustified and that they wanted a federal investigation. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that dozens of people gathered in Eastover Park to protest what they called excessive use of force.

"Word has to get out concerning what's happening in the black community," said the Rev. Randolph Shaheed, who helped organize Tuesday's protest. "We're not trying to be radical as it relates to violence. We're out here trying to be radical as it relates to change. Change has to come."

Earlier Tuesday, residents of the Stop Six community gathered at Eastover Park to protest the shooting, alleging excessive force was used against Thomas, who had only one leg due to a shotgun wound he reportedly received when he was 12. Some complained that police officers frequently and unfairly target black residents in the neighborhood.

"We've been getting drugged through our own community for years now," said Kendrick Moore, who said that police frequently targeted neighborhood residents. "We're grown. Now we've got some power behind us, whether the police department knows it or not, and we're fixing to take action... This was wrong."

The Fort Worth Police are "just another form of militia; they're just an organized gang," said Terrance Montgomery. "This man was killed with three children in the car," Montgomery said. "I ask people all over the world, if your father, your mother or your brother was killed with children in the car, how would you respond?"

Thomas had two previous convictions for possession of a controlled substance, one for delivery of a controlled substance, and one for possession of marijuana.