Lake Worth officer who hit man with SUV later fatally shot teen in Fort Worth, police say

A former Lake Worth officer who was sued Monday and accused of using excessive force in a 2020 arrest also fatally shot a teen in Fort Worth in 2021, police said Tuesday.

Lake Worth Police Chief J.T. Manoushagian said at a news conference Tuesday that former officer Jonathan Granado was suspended for two weeks and put on administrative duty during an investigation after he hit a fleeing suspect with a police vehicle in November 2020. Manoushagian said an independent investigation indicated the crash was an accident, and a grand jury declined to indict the officer. Granado was required to undergo additional training and present to his peers what he learned from the incident and what he could do better before he returned to active duty.

The fatal shooting occurred after Lake Worth police were involved in a pursuit on the morning of Sept. 3. Officers chased a car into Fort Worth before the suspects’ vehicle became disabled. Three people ran in different directions, and one of them — who was armed with a handgun that had an extended magazine — pointed it at police, the chief has said. Police did not say how many rounds the extended magazine held.

Granado fired at the 18-year-old, killing him, according to Manoushagian. Fort Worth police investigated the shooting as an independent third party, he said Tuesday.

Manoushagian said the department will not release the findings of its internal affairs investigation of the shooting until a grand jury makes a decision on whether or not to indict, citing a desire not to contradict the grand jury decision. Granado resigned from the department before any decisions about disciplinary actions were made and while he was still on administrative leave.

Manoushagian said the department did not release information that Granado was connected to the shooting earlier out of fear of poisoning public opinion and out a desire to examine each use-of-force occurrence separately.

Granado had been with the department for almost four years, in his first policing job. He’d previously worked as a jailer in Grand Prairie for three years, according to Manoushagian.

Granado chose to resign in December, the chief said Monday. On Tuesday, he confirmed that following the shooting, Granado never returned to work in any capacity before he handed in his resignation.

Granado could not be reached for comment.

Excessive force lawsuit

On Monday, a federal lawsuit was filed against Granado, accusing him of using excessive force when he hit a man with a police SUV during an arrest in November 2020 in Lake Worth.

That suspect, Dustin Bates, was seriously injured. Bates was charged with evading arrest and drug possession, but those charges were dismissed at prosecutorial discretion in August.

Lake Worth police suspended Granado for two weeks for violating department policies related to the safe operation of a vehicle, the police chief said. In March, a Tarrant County grand jury declined to indict the officer in connection with the crash.

In the lawsuit, Bates said he was riding a motorcycle on Nov. 23, 2020, in Lake Worth when Granado pulled in behind him and radioed that he could not see Bates’ license plate, according to court documents.

Seconds later, Granado gave the license plate number to dispatch, and authorities determined it did not match the motorcycle Bates was driving, according to the lawsuit. Manoushagian said police later determined the motorcycle was not stolen.

Granado turned on his overhead lights, signaling he was pulling over Bates for a traffic stop because of the license plate issue.

Bates did not pull over, and he accelerated and drove away from the Lake Worth officer.

After a brief pursuit, Bates exited the highway, but he lost control of the motorcycle, which went down in a grassy area.

Bates stood up and began to run into a field as he saw the Lake Worth officer approaching at a high rate of speed.

Seconds later, Bates said, the officer “ran over” him with the vehicle, and he suffered three fractured ribs, a broken right leg and a fractured spine. The officer’s dash camera video captured the episode.

The police chief said Monday that Granado braked as he exited the highway and followed Bates into a field, but his patrol vehicle slid on wet grass and accidentally struck Bates at about 45 mph.

Granado was driving about 95 mph when he began to exit the highway and apply his brakes, Manoushagian said.

Manoushagian said despite claims in the lawsuit, a police investigation found the SUV hit Bates but did not run over him.

Manoushagian said what he saw on the video showed poor judgment on the officer’s part.

The Lake Worth Police Department asked Grand Prairie police to conduct an independent criminal investigation, while the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office conducted a crash investigation and Lake Worth did an internal administrative investigation.

The Grand Prairie department’s investigation found marks that showed the tires of the officer’s vehicle lost traction, Manoushagian said. The FBI also reviewed the case and declined to take action, Manoushagian said.

The Lake Worth chief said he does not believe Grand Prairie investigators had any bias in favor of Granado due to his previous employment there as a jailer. The Grand Prairie Police Department referred questions about Bates’ history there to its legal department.

According to the lawsuit, Bates said he was moving to get out of the way of Granado’s vehicle.

“I was just trying to get out of the way of the patrol car,” Bates said in an August interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “And now I’m in pain every day.”

The lawsuit argues that a photograph taken at the scene showed that Granado’s SUV was not sliding through the grass out of control, but instead, the vehicle was driven directly at Bates. The lawsuit also states that on the video, the squeal of Granado’s brakes can be heard only after he hit Bates.

The lawsuit stated that Bates was not holding a weapon and he did not have anything in either of his hands.

The shooting

In the early hours of Sept. 3, Lake Worth police started to chase the driver of a vehicle, who was going 88 mph in a 65 mph zone on Interstate 820, for a traffic stop when the suspects turned off their lights, Manoushagian said at a Sept. 3 news conference.

Police pursued the vehicle into Fort Worth, which ended in a foot chase on Horne Street, near Interstate 30 and Camp Bowie Boulevard in Fort Worth, the police chief said.

During the chase, the officers were told that the vehicle had been involved in similar incidents with White Settlement police and that the occupants should be considered armed and dangerous, Manoushagian said.

The car had hit a curb on Horne Street, disabling a tire, and the suspects got out and ran in separate directions, the chief said.

Granado said, “Gun, gun, gun, he’s got a gun,” before shooting the armed man, the chief said. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the suspect who was killed as Estevan Ramirez, 18, of Fort Worth.

At the time of the fatal shooting, Lake Worth police did not identify the officer involved or say if any disciplinary action was taken against the officer.

Chief says former officer a good man who made mistakes

Manoushagian called Granado a “good man,” and said he decided to allow him back on to active duty after the 2020 crash hoping he would have learned from mistakes made during the pursuit.

Granado put himself through the police academy before joining the Lake Worth department, the chief said.

“This officer is a good person. His story is incredible, remarkable,” Manoushagian said at the Tuesday news conference. “That doesn’t excuse his actions, it doesn’t prevent any good person from making mistakes, but he is not a bad person for what it’s worth.”

He also said his department has been in contact with Ramirez’s family multiple times since the shooting and wants to help them in any way the department can. Manoushagian has not been in contact with Granado but said he has checked in on him through people who know him.

He said the department works every day to build trust with the community.

“Our department is sad that these things happened and understand the impact that it has on our community,” Manoushagian said. “We don’t want the public to think we will cower or back away. We will go out with a fire to make it right.”