On the 16th of January 2014, mother of 3 Yvette Smith was shot in her friend’s home by Daniel Willis, the officer coming to settle a disturbance. She was trying to stop a disagreement between a father and son by calling 911.

The disagreement was settled before the officers arrived. The owner of the home Mr. Willie Thomas was outside when police arrived and demanded all other residents come outside as well. Yvette Smith was shot three seconds after the door was opened as shown by body camera footage. She was shot twice by the deputy sheriff’s with his personal AR-15 semi automatic assault rifle. The officers claimed she threatened them with a gun despite no weapons being found within the home. The dispatcher claimed the opposite and Thomas said it was false information. The police statement said Yvette was disregarding the officers’ orders and carrying a firearm.

Relatives of Yvette said she was a kind woman and would never purposely disrespect nor taunt law officials in any way. Bastrop County and the area around Yvette’s residence was conservative and law respecting. Daniel Willis was hired by Travis County and not yet suited for explosive situations. In April 2016, he was found not guilty of murder and later sued Bastrop County because his rights were violated. He claims he was not relayed vital information in order to handle the situation. As stated previously, he didn’t have the training to handle the situation in anyway.

The civil case the family filed for wrongful death was settled with 1.22 million in compensation. However, Daniel Willis still walks a free man who killed an innocent unarmed black woman.

More information can be found in these articles.

https://4wardeveruk.org/cases/cases-abroad/shootings/yvette-smith/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.kxan.com/news/local/bastrop-county/fired-bastrop-county-deputy-who-shot-woman-claims-his-civil-rights-were-violated/amp/