SCOTUS gives go-ahead to lawsuit against Arlington cop who shot, killed man in 2017

A lawsuit against an Arlington police officer in the 2017 fatal shooting of a 23-year-old man has once again been given the go-ahead to proceed, this time by the U.S. Supreme Court.

According to the highest court’s website, a petition to dismiss the case based on qualified immunity was denied on Monday. Qualified immunity is a federal legal principle that in some instances protects some government officials, like police, from lawsuits resulting from actions performed in an official capacity.

A lower court last September decided that Craig Roper, the officer who shot and killed Tavis Crane, does not have the protection of qualified immunity because questions remain about whether his use of deadly force was reasonable.

Roper sought to have the Supreme Court overrule that decision, but its denial means that the family of Crane can go forward with a lawsuit alleging violations of Crane’s constitutional rights.

Roper was cleared of criminal wrongdoing by a grand jury in 2019, but he can still face a civil suit.

The incident began on Feb. 1, 2017, when another officer, Cpl. Elise Bowden, said she saw an object tossed out of Crane’s car that she thought might be a drug pipe, and she pulled Crane over, according to court documents. It turned out that the object was part of a plastic Christmas candy cane that Crane’s 2-year-old daughter threw out the car window. Bowden had called for backup during the traffic stop, and Roper was one of the officers who responded.

Crane’s family has said that during the traffic stop, Roper put Crane in a headlock and shot him, causing the car to move and hit Bowden.

“Craig Roper was the judge, the jury and the executioner on that night with my son in a chokehold,” Dee Crane, Tavis’ mother, told KTVT-TV in September. “He murdered my son.”

Police at the time said Tavis Crane had warrants out for his arrest that officers discovered when they ran a check during the traffic stop, and that he ran over Bowden while trying to flee.

The warrants were later revealed to be for misdemeanors.

“The officers should have written him out a ticket, sent him on his way and let him live to see another day,” Dee Crane told KTVT in September.

Video of the shooting

Police said Tavis Crane refused to get out of his vehicle multiple times when asked to do so by Bowden before twice running over her. Roper was partially in the car before it started moving, then got all the way in and shot Crane, police said at the time.

Bowden suffered multiple injuries, including broken bones, and was hospitalized for several days.

Lee Merritt, an attorney for the Crane family, obtained a dashcam video in 2017 after he said witness accounts disagreed with what police said happened.

Witnesses who were in the car with Crane said that Roper put Crane in a chokehold and that when Crane reached for the keys to turn off the car as ordered, Roper shot him, causing the car to accelerate and hit Bowden.

Roper has said that Crane “shifted the car in gear while the two struggled, and that it was only after the car ran over Bowden and after Roper warned Crane that he would kill him if Crane did not stop the car that Roper shot Crane twice,” according to the court documents. “Roper claims that the first two shots ‘did not cause Crane to stop the vehicle, [so] he fired two other shots.’”

The court ruled the video was inconclusive.

“What happened inside Crane’s car is not visible in the dashcam video,” the ruling reads. “As such, the video does not resolve the relevant factual disputes. It is not clear from the video when Roper shot Crane, when Crane became unconscious, whether the car moved before or after Roper shot Crane, and whether Roper had his arm around Crane’s neck or was grabbing Crane’s sweatshirt.”

The video shows Bowden, Roper and another officer approach Crane’s car after finding warrants for a probation violation and multiple misdemeanors out of Dallas County. Before Roper arrived, Bowden informed the other officer that “the passengers had been cooperative and that she wasn’t sure if Crane even knew he had a warrant out,” according to court documents. Two other adults and the child were also in the car.

Bowden, on the dashcam video, asks Crane to step out of the car. Crane says, “I’m not stepping out, because I didn’t do anything wrong.”

After some back-and-forth conversation, Bowden says, “You have a warrant and you need to step out.”

“I have to take my baby home now,” Crane responds. “I’m not stepping out.”

Bowden responds: “Tavis, if you go and do something stupid, then we’re going to be breaking windows — it’s going to get crazy. It ain’t worth it. Look at me. I’m talking to you like a mother, OK? You’re a father. Open the door, baby.”

One officer then opens the back driver’s side door of the car, while another points a flashlight in the front passenger’s window.

“Put your hands on the dashboard,” an officer yells.

“Open the door!” Bowden shouts. “I told you you don’t want to do this. Open the door. Open the door now.”

At that point, the officer who had opened the back driver’s side door — and who, based on the police account, was presumably Roper — appears to be partially inside the car.

After more yelling from Bowden, telling Crane, “Don’t do it!” Crane’s car revs up and moves forward slightly. Bowden then moves behind the car, which rams backward, knocking her to the ground. The car crashes into a patrol car before pulling forward, running over Bowden again.

“Oh my God!” Bowden screams repeatedly. “I’ve been run over twice!”

At some point, Roper shot Crane, though it was unclear from the dashcam video exactly when. The vehicle moved away with Roper still in the car, and an officer in a second patrol car followed, according to that officer’s dashcam video.

Crane’s car only went a short distance down the road. When the second officer arrived, Roper was standing outside the car.

Roper and the second officer pulled Crane from the car and performed CPR as a woman in the car cried. Crane was taken to Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

This story contains information from the Star-Telegram’s archives.