Dallas police officer who shot neighbor fired by department

Associated Press

DALLAS

A white Dallas police officer who fatally shot her black neighbor inside his own apartment was fired Monday, the same day the man was being buried in his Caribbean homeland.

Police Chief U. Renee Hall dismissed Officer Amber Guyger during a hearing Monday, according to the Police Department. Guyger is charged with manslaughter in the Sept. 6 shooting that left 26-year-old Botham Jean dead, and she was fired because of her arrest, according to the department.

Court records show Guyger said she thought she had encountered a burglar inside her own home. She was arrested three days later and is out on bond.

A statement from police said an internal investigation concluded that Sept. 9, Guyger, a four-year veteran of the force, “engaged in adverse conduct when she was arrested for manslaughter.” Dallas police spokesman Sgt. Warren Mitchell later said that when an officer has been arrested in connection with a crime, “adverse conduct” is often cited in the officer’s termination.

Mitchell said that adverse conduct is “conduct which adversely affects the [morale] or efficiency of the Department or which has a tendency to adversely affect, lower, destroy public respect and confidence in the Department or officer.”