It has been over six months since officer Chase Bebak-Miller shot and killed 17-year-old Anthony Cano as he complied with the officer’s orders. So far, no charges have been brought and the only ones receiving scrutiny from the police are family members who have been seeking justice. As is the case in most police killings, the Cano family’s justice is coming in the form of taxpayer dollars.
In an extremely quick move, the city has already agreed to pay out over $1 million in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by Anthony’s family.
Though they have won the settlement, the family now says they are going to keep fighting for Bebak-Miller to face the consequences for what he did that night.
“The fight will continue,” said Phil Martinez, a Phoenix-area activist who is close to the family, according to the Phoenix New Times. Indeed, it has to continue as this cop is still on the force despite graphic video of him executing Anthony.
Since Anthony was killed, more and more details have continued to come out. Most recently, we found out that a civilian was in Bebak-Miller’s car that night when he jumped out, chased down, and executed Anthony over a bicycle light.
According to 12 News,
12 News obtained a copy of the redacted Chandler Police General Offense Report which revealed Bebak-Miller had a civilian passenger in his patrol car the night of the shooting.
The report states around 9:00 p.m. Officer Bebak-Miller picked up someone for a civilian ride a-long and that civilian claimed he “exited the patrol vehicle” during the foot pursuit.
It was also reported that just 8 months prior to killing Anthony, Bebak-Miller had been shot in the leg, potentially setting off some post traumatic stress.
“I don’t know if this was a mistaken identity, or angry officer, or a traumatized officer being that he was shot. Maybe he wasn’t ready to come back to work? I can’t tell you all those questions. There is so many things unanswered,” Eva Cano said.
In a statement to 12 News, the family’s lawyer Greg Kuykendall called the incident “profoundly troubling” and says “none of this is normal.” Kuykendall says the fact he was shot a second time as he lay face-down on the ground “mandates an investigation by the federal government.”
Indeed, the details of this case are very troubling. As TFTP reported, on the night of January 2, Anthony was riding his bicycle down the road when Bebak-Miller decided he needed to stop the teen because he did not have the proper lighting. Moments later, he’d have two bullet holes in his back—the second shot fired as Anthony lie facedown on the ground, his gun 10 yards away.
As the graphic body cam shows, Anthony attempted to flee on the bicycle before dropping it and taking off on foot.
“He’s fleeing on foot,” said the officer in the footage.
Body camera footage shows the officer in pursuit of the boy just before Anthony drops his gun. As he is about to surrender, Cano picks up the gun to throw it away so he doesn’t get shot. He successfully threw the gun away but was shot in the back anyway.
The portion of the video showing the gun at least ten yards away from Cano was redacted from the original release. It is damning and proves that Bebak-Miller had no reason to kill this child.
“Drop it! Get on the ground!” the officer shouts.
After Cano threw the gun, the officer then shoots him in the back.
At this point, the child is clearly incapacitated—not even moving—and the threat is neutralized. However, for good measure, as the teen lies dying on the ground—with the gun now 10 yards away—the cop puts another round in his back in a seeming attempt to finish him off.
In the new and heartbreaking video, Cano is heard explaining himself to the officer as he struggles to breathe.
“Hey, put your hands behind your back!” Officer Bebak-Miller shouts as Cano can barely move after being shot twice.
“Hands behind your back!” Officer Bebak-Miller shouts again.
“I’m sorry, sir, I can’t,” Cano says.
Cano slowly but eventually gets his hands behind his back.
“Keep them there,” the officer says. “I want to help you, OK! I want to help you!”
“OK,” Cano says. “I can’t breathe.”
“Handcuff me, hurry,” said Cano. “I don’t want to die.”
At this point, Cano explains that he was surrendering so he wouldn’t get shot. Unfortunately for Cano, however, Bebak-Miller either never saw him throw the gun away, or he didn’t care, and shot him anyway.
“I just wanted to throw the gun away,” Cano says.
“Well, I thought you were pulling it on me, man,” responds Bebak-Miller.
“No, no, no,” said Cano.
“It was f**king stupid,” says the officer.
“I tried throwing it so I wouldn’t get shot,” Cano says.
As other officers arrive, the life starts to fade from the teen’s body.
“I can’t feel my legs,” says Cano.
Cano died three weeks later in the hospital.
For two months, police let Cano’s family, and the public believe that Cano was a threat to the officer when he was shot. However, the unedited video released in March proves that this was not true at all and anything other than a murder charge against this cop would be a travesty of justice.
Rene Clum, Cano’s mother questioned the entire reason for the stop in the first place, saying her son should’ve never been targeted.
“He was scared, coming home. He wasn’t doing anything wrong other than riding a bike without a light.”
This article was originally featured at The Free Thought Project and is republished with permission.
