Judge William Cruz Shaw decided to keep a 16-year-old in detention for safety after a police shooting incident in San Antonio on Sept. 8.
SAN ANTONIO — From his juvenile court bench Tuesday morning, Judge William Cruz Shaw said the best way to keep a teen safe 24/7 was to keep him in the detention center.
The 16-year-old, who rolled into the courtroom in a wheelchair, is still recovering after being shot twice during a confrontation with San Antonio police September 8.
The incident happened on West Dickson Avenue in south San Antonio when officers were called to look into a report of someone with knives.
At the time, police said two officers tried to de-escalate the situation by repeatedly backing up until the teen threw one knife at the officers and then lunged at them with another.
An attempt to use a taser on the teen failed and police said that’s when shots were fired.
The teen has been in detention ever since he was released from the hospital and his family and attorney argued that he should be released so that he could receive better medical care during his recovery.
Defense attorney Monica Guerrero told the judge the family wants him home.
“Based on his medical circumstances and the limited quality of care that he can receive here at the detention facility, I’m going to ask that he be released to his parents. I don’t believe he is going to be a threat to society anymore,” Guerrero said.
A relative of the teen told the judge the family has tried many different times to get therapy for the teen’s continuing issues, but help has been hard to come by.
“I feel it’s been overlooked everywhere he’s gone. They just run him through the system, doing the paperwork, collecting the money and just kicking him out,” the man said.
The relative said while the teen is locked up, there will not be appropriate care until formal charges are filed.
“Him being here, he has missed a lot of school due to his medical issues. Now that he’s in juvenile they’re saying they can’t do nothing until they file charges,” he said, adding the teen has missed numerous medical appointments.
The teen asked to be released.
“Personally, I don’t think I’m a danger to nobody,” the teen said. “I was doing my best to show you I’m not a danger to myself. It’s okay if I have to stay here but I would like to go home today.”
Because the teen has appeared in court on a previous case, Shaw admonished him about continuing to put himself at risk.
Implying that his behavior was life threatening, Shaw said “I told you last time you might be not coming out of a hospital. Do you understand that?”
The teen said he understood, saying, “Yes sir. I could have been dead.”
Shaw told the teen he will make sure medical professionals will be available for help as soon as that case is filed but for now, the teen will be back in court for another detention hearing in mid-October.