Newly released body-camera footage shows the moments Houston police officer Orlando Hernandez, 25, was speeding, driving with one hand before hitting and killing 62-year-old Michael Wayne Jackson. On Dec. 4, Jackson was walking to his barber when the officer hit and killed him with his police cruiser.
The case is yet to be presented to a grand jury by prosecutors, said Dane Schiller, a spokesperson for Harris County district attorney’s office. The Houston Police Department (HPD), on Dec. 30, released two video clips from bodycams worn by driving officer Orlando Hernandez and his partner officer Anthony Aranda. According to an HPD spokesperson, The two officers, who are currently listed as active duty, are 25 years old have been on the force for over four years.
Hernandez and his partner were driving on Reed Road with lights and siren turned on to help another officer bust five suspects allegedly involved in a carjacking who reportedly fled on foot after a short pursuit.
A crash report filed by the HPD shows that Reed Road was wet from a recent rain shower that Saturday afternoon. Body-camera footage shows that Hernandez activated the cruiser’s windshield wipers as he maneuvered the police SUV through traffic. In the video, Hernandez, on multiple occasions, appears to be using only one hand to steer the speeding vehicle over slick residential roads. He slowed down to check for cross traffic as he approached a red light at Cullen Boulevard before driving west toward Scott Street.
Around 5:40 p.m that evening, Hernandez approached from the east in his cruiser while Jackson was walking west on the sidewalk in the 4100 block of Reed Road near Scott Street. According to police, many vehicles were stopped at a red light at the Reed Road and Scott Street intersection. Video shows Hernandez speeding toward the intersection, turning the steering wheel nearly 180 degrees to avoid colliding with other cars. Hernandez slid his cruiser slightly right, jumping the sidewalk and hitting Jackson before slamming into a Dumpster bin in a nearby parking lot.
The body-cam footage indicates that Jackson was hit by Hernandez’s cruiser about 34 seconds after the officer passed through the intersection at Cullen Boulevard.
No additional findings from the HPD investigation have been released. However, in a crash report, Crash investigators, in combination with HPD’s vehicular crimes division, noted that Hernandez was “traveling at an unsafe speed” and “performed a faulty evasive action.”
Hernandez and Aranda ran to Jackson after the crash as witnesses can be heard screaming and music playing from a nearby restaurant, the video shows. In addition, the footage also captured sirens from nearby HPD officers who were also rushing to assist in the chase.
