Civil Rights activists call for Tyler Police resignations

TYLER– Texas Civil Rights activists said in Thursday press conference that they demand the resignation of the police chief, the termination of the officers involved in the incident and others in the department. According to our news partner KETK, Civil Rights activists Quanell X and Candice Matthews were deeply disturbed watching the video of Brianna Erwin’s arrest on Mother’s Day.

X and Matthews called for Chief Jimmy Toler’s resignation, the termination of the officers involved and Toler’s leadership team.

Chief Toler stated he supports the actions of his officers. He added that his officers are trained to increase restraint when a suspect increases their resistance.

Tyler PD said during the struggle, Erwin managed to fire a gun shot from the holster of the officer. Toler said to deescalate the situation the officer was seen giving Erwin a “closed hand strike.”

“It was impossible for Erwin to fire the officer’s weapon,” Mathews said. “It being a level three retention holster, the level three retention holster has three levels in order to move that gun out of that holster. In order for her, and she was tussling the way she was doing. She’s not an expert to know that. So based on that video, from what we’ve seen, is that it appears that the officer shot that gun, not her.”

For the first time in more than 20 years the Tyler Police Department released body cam footage during an active investigation to put down rumors that the gun was fired by the officer, according to the chief.

“The safety zone has a double safety mechanism on the trigger. You have to pull the trigger with both sides of it and even pull to make it go off. That’s the only way it goes off. She had to discharge the trigger to make that gun discharge, and they’re always engaged and ready to go in case they are confronted with deadly force, which is what they were here,” Chief of Police, Jimmy Toler said.

X said if the gun was that easy to discharge, then gun was not stored properly.

“If that gun was already in the holster and able to fire sitting in the holster with no safety on, then if it was that easily accessible to anyone, then that means it was not stored correctly and properly,” X said.

There is an ongoing criminal investigation into Erwin’s actions and an internal investigation. The internal investigation is procedure when an officer’s gun is discharged.

“We will finish our investigation, make a determination about whether or not the action of the officers were reasonable and prudent based on the circumstances that she created. From there, we’ll make a determination on whether it’s justified or not justified,” Toler said.

Both activists are calling for the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division to step in and investigate if Erwin’s rights were violated.