Texas police caught in an enormous lie about their murder of unarmed mother Yvette Smith
Texas police caught in an enormous lie about their murder of unarmed mother Yvette Smith
On February 16, 2014, Yvette Smith, a 47-year-old mother beloved by her family and community, was shot twice by an AR-15 assault rifle and killed on the spot by local police as she opened the front door of her home. A full 18 months later, as her case finally came before a jury, it's disturbingly clear that the police lied, repeatedly, in an attempt to cover up their murder of Smith.
First off, Smith called 911 for help because two men in her home were arguing over a financial dispute and she felt it was getting out of hand. She had nothing to do with the dispute and was an innocent bystander—a victim, even. When the police showed up, both men were already in the front yard and it appeared that the dispute was settled. This should've been case closed, but it wasn't.
When Smith opened the front door of her home, she was shot twice with a high-powered .223 caliber rifle in less than two seconds by Officer Daniel Willis of Bastrop County, Texas, outside of Austin.
The lies and the coverup began immediately. The entire department was involved.
Below, see the initial statement from Sheriff Terry Pickering, issued just hours after Smith died.
As you may have seen, police not only claimed that Smith emerged from the home with a firearm, they stated that she ignored police commands. In essence, Smith came out of that house, according to police, ready to bring hellfire and damnation on police and they acted out in self-defense from an incredibly dangerous woman.
This is a lie. A complete fabrication. When Sheriff Terry Pickering issued the statement, he was fully and completely aware that Yvette Smith wasn't armed. No weapon was found on or near her. He knew this. The officers on the scene knew this, but Sheriff Pickering issued that statement anyway. It sounded better.
Knowing that the evidence and scores of eyewitnesses saw that she was unarmed, police later retracted the statement, but have given absolutely no answers or held anyone responsible for the earlier lie—which was the primary reason given for shooting Smith in the first place.
It may be hard to believe, but the lies get worse—much worse.
As you saw in the initial statement released by police, they claimed that Smith ignored their commands. On September 17, in open court, we learned that this was also an elaborate lie told to justify police misconduct.
Deputy Scott Gaskamp, who arrived at the scene just moments before the shooting, had told investigators and written reports stating that they had ordered Smith to show them her hands, to open the door and come out of the house, Gaskamp testified Thursday.
Recordings of the incident showed no commands were ever issued.
When pressed to explain this in court, Officer Gaskamp literally admitted that he made the whole damn thing up. He also stated that he couldn't remember telling this lie to the lead investigator, until they played him the recorded interview where he stated the lie over and over again.
Gaskamp told the court he never amended any of his reports or came forward to investigators to correct his errors. After reviewing the dashboard camera footage caught from his patrol vehicle and Willis’ vehicle, he realized his written reports were wrong and that he had never told Smith to put her hands up or issued any other command.
“I did not say those words. It must have been a figment of my imagination,” Gaskamp said.
Are you tracking this? Let me summarize it for you . . .
Yvette Smith called 911 for help.
She opened the front door of her home and was almost instantly shot twice by police with an AR-15 assault rifle.
The officers on the scene lied and said she was armed.
The supervising officer doubled down on the lie and spread it in a press release.
The officers then lied and said they made multiple commands that Smith ignored, but the dashcam footage shows that none of those commands were made. Not one of them.
The coverup continued . . .
A few weeks after the shooting, an investigation by BCSO revealed that several supervisors had modified Willis’ field training records after the shooting in an effort to make sure the records were completed accurately. A lieutenant and a sergeant were demoted to patrol deputy and five additional supervisors also faced disciplinary action because of the record changes.
Lastly, and this may be the most disturbing fact of all, it was discovered that the officer who shot and killed Smith was found incompetent by another police department.
Before working for Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office, Willis, 29, was employed by Travis County. A Travis County 2012 evaluation of Willis stated that Willis needed more development in handling explosive situations and in the utilization of common sense.
Yes, you read that correctly: The damn evaluation said the police officer who killed Yvette Smith struggled with "common sense," but was hired by a neighboring department anyway.
While Officer Willis has been charged in Smith's death, it is increasingly clear that the entire Bastrop County Sheriff's Office conspired to protect one another and cover up this crime. All of them should be immediately fired and a statewide investigation needs to be launched into the corrupt actions that we can clearly see in the murder of Yvette Smith.
Fans of the death penalty should demand its use in this case.
