‘My baby didn’t deserve it’: Mother of one-year-old shot by police breaks silence
‘I was just scared for my son’s life,’ Daisha Smalls says
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Your support makes all the difference.The mother of a one-year-old who was accidentally shot in the head by police in Houston has condemned the actions of officers as she says her baby remains in intensive care.
Police officers shot into the car of Daisha Smalls and injured her son Legend while chasing a robbery suspect who was armed on 3 March after the suspect jumped into her car.
Ms Smalls has said that she had just finished pumping gas and went into her car when the suspect jumped in and demanded he give up the vehicle, KPRC-TV reported.
"I wouldn’t give him my car because I let him know that I have a child in my car and that I would not leave my car without my son," the young mother said.
Ms Smalls said that the man jumped into the vehicle as police arrived, saying: “Before I knew what happened they were already shooting at my car.”
“I was just scared for my son’s life,” Ms Smalls said at a press conference on Tuesday while talking about the incident with her attorney, Benjamin Crump.
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“My baby didn’t deserve it. My baby didn’t deserve to get shot, especially not by the police,” Ms Smalls said.
In a statement on Tuesday, police said that an officer feared that the suspect, who was killed, was trying to carjack Ms Smalls car and discharged his weapon.
"Fearing for the mother’s safety, one of our officers discharged his duty weapon, fatally striking the suspect," Chief Art Acevedo said in the statement on Twitter. “Sadly, baby legend was also struck.”
Legend, who’s mother said was on a ventilator for more than 10 days and had to have the right side of his skull removed due to the swelling from the bullet, NBC News reported.
"He still has bullet fragments in his head, and he’s in intensive care," Ms Smalls said. "And I just want my baby to be safe... I just want him to recover."
Mr Crump, a prominent civil rights attorney, said that Ms Small’s lawyers will be filing a lawsuit against the Houston Police Department.
"The objectiveness is that there are innocent people in the line of fire. And we know that you do not shoot, unless you know what your target is," Attorney Antonio Romanucci, who is also representing Ms Smalls, said.
"And clearly the Houston police did not know their target, because they hit Legend squarely in the skull. Not a graze wound."
Police said the case is being investigated by the department’s special investigations unit and the internal affairs division. The county district attorney is also said to be conducting a separate inquiry.
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