Amarillo Police Open Fire On SUV In Downtown Amarillo [Video]

Friday and Saturday nights around 2am one of the best and worst places to be all at the same time is downtown Amarillo.  Best, because everyone is leaving the clubs and it's prime time for poaching your one night stand for the night.  Worst, because there is almost always a fight as party goers leave the clubs.  In this raw video, Polk St. lights up like the 4th of July as Amarillo Police open fire on an SUV.

It happened about a year ago on Polk St. between 7th & 8th right around 2am when everyone was heading out.  Fights broke out (of course), and then shots were fired.  But it looks like the police were doing all the shooting.

(Amarillo Globe News)

At 2 a.m. Jan. 30, 2011, Polk Street turned chaotic. Police responded. Claudio Trujillo, 24, backed an SUV carrying two friends onto the street. When he ignored officers’ orders to stop, police unleashed 40 shots, authorities said. He later died of gunshot wounds. He was unarmed.

The video is from a dash camera of a police car parked at 8th & Polk and is among materials tied to a pending federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Trujillo’s family against the city and the officers.

It seems like we have a victim here right?  Like Trujillo did nothing to justify this shooting right?  Well when I did some digging I found this on the comments of the video (Youtube)

Several things that were not presented in the video or the comments at were made public by the Amarillo Globe-News or other news media in Amarillo. 1.) Trujillo was on parole and was violating his parole by being in a bar and was trying to flee 2.) Police were responding to a "shots fired" call at that location. 3.) Police ordered him to stop the black Tahoe that he was driving. He refused and proceeded towards the officer that was standing in front of the Tahoe. The officers then opened fire.

Aha!  So the truth comes out.  At first, Amarillo Globe News really painted this as if Trujillo was just driving off.  But it appears that he was driving his Tahoe right at the police! Yeah I probably would've opened fire too!  Now the parole thing I don't think really justifies any more force using weapons.

Look when police go out, especially on a shots fired call, they have to make split life & death decisions.  So they respond to a shots fired call, before they even get to the scene their lives are in danger.  And if this is all true and he did in fact drive the vehicle at the cops, then he was using his vehicle as a weapon.  That completely justifies cops opening fire.

I mean if it was me I would've jumped out of the way of the moving vehicle and not stood there firing at it.  But I guess that's why I'm a radio DJ and not a cop!

What do you think?  Absurd police brutality that ended in the death of an innocent victim?  Or was justice served?

To read full story visit Amarillo Globe News right here.