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San Antonio Police Department officer Eric Cantu Jr. was shot multiple times in a McDonald’s parking lot after meeting with the teenager the night before, according to SAPD documents seen by KSAT Investigates.
Cantu chased former SAPD Officer James Brennand in a maroon BMW sedan on Oct. 1 and shot him a second time the following night while trying to flee, records indicate.
The teenage woman who was with Cantu when he was shot by former SAPD officer James Brennand told investigators after the shooting that she was reluctant to ride with Cantu on Oct. 2 because of Cantu’s actions the night before, records show.
In the Oct. 1 incident, Cantu told police he “disregarded the emergency lights and ‘speeded off’” after an officer tried to pull him over on the North Side Highway not far from a McDonald’s.
“Eric probably didn’t want to deal with the police,” she says in the report.
Records of the incident have not been released publicly by the San Antonio Police Department. However, KSAT Investigates was able to view and verify the documents.
City officials on Friday moved to prevent the release of information related to the Oct. 1 shooting, including the incident report of the hit-and-run case.
Clash and Evacuation on October 1st
SAPD in-car camera records, called COBAN, show Brennand encountering a maroon BMW sedan around 8:45 p.m. Oct. 1 in the area of US Hwy. 281, Bitters Road.
Brennand stopped behind the vehicle and then activated his emergency lights, at which point the BMW accelerated and swerved to the left, in front of another vehicle before driving onto the on-ramp of Highway 281, SAPD records show.
Brennand was not involved in an investigation, but later noted that the BMW’s license plates were returned to another vehicle, sources familiar with the criminal investigation told KSAT.
SAPD officials confirmed that the license plates did not belong to the vehicle Cantu was driving, but clarified that the vehicle was not stolen.
According to SAPD documents, the female passenger’s statement “confirms that Eric was the driver and that they were in the same BMW the night he eluded Officer Brennand at 281 and Bitters Road.”
The teenager, described in SAPD documents as Cantu’s girlfriend, eventually dropped Cantu off at her apartment, but was disturbed by his actions.
KSAT is not naming her because no criminal charges have been filed.
Oct. 2 shooting in a McDonald’s parking lot
The next day, on Oct. 2, the teenager “revealed to Eric that she did not want to be ‘arrested’ or ‘shot’ because of Eric’s actions,” the report said.
She eventually relented and allowed Cantu to pick her up from a friend’s house. The two teenagers then went to eat at a McDonald’s on Blanco Road.
Brennan, who was at the restaurant for an unrelated disturbance call, approached Cantu’s vehicle after recognizing it from the night before. He opened the driver’s side door without announcing himself as an officer.
The female passenger said in an interview with investigators that Cantu ignored Brennan’s commands to get out of the car, that the vehicle door “slammed the officer” and that the officer was “dragged backwards” when Cantu backed up, SAPD records show.
A short clip of body-worn camera footage released by SAPD days after the shooting shows Brennand did not identify himself as an officer before opening Cantu’s vehicle door.
The passenger told police she was down when Brennan fired shots at Cantu’s vehicle.
Brennan’s criminal defense attorney has not responded to KSAT’s repeated inquiries about his client’s actions the night of the shooting.
Brennand, a probationary officer with seven months of experience, was fired Oct. 4 by SAPD. Since his dismissal occurred during his probation period, it is not reviewable.
Prosecutors dismissed criminal charges against Cantu on Oct. 7, stemming in part from the shooting incident, so his family could be by his side as he recovered in the hospital.
Brennand was arrested Oct. 11 on two counts of aggravated assault by a public servant.
He is free on $200,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 23.
The female passenger, who was 17 at the time of the shooting but has since turned 18, has hired an attorney and filed a psychological harassment claim in civil court against Brennan and SAPD.
Her attorney did not respond to an email seeking an interview for this story.
More information about what happened after the shooting
Cantu told investigators that after the shooting, he stopped the car along Blanco Road toward Parliament Road and crawled onto the sidewalk in front of Las Palapas.
Cantu told the female passenger to call paramedics, but after she couldn’t find her cellphone, she hid for a while. After police arrived at the scene and surrendered to a responding officer, she quickly exited with her hands up, SAPD records show.
Officers placed a tourniquet on Cantu’s arm, according to the documents.
At a press conference last week, Cantu’s family described the seriousness of his injuries and said a bullet remained near his heart.
The family’s civil rights attorney, Ben Crump, repeatedly referred to Cantu’s shooting as an incident of racial profiling at the same press conference.
“Why, why ask? Because he profiled this young Hispanic teenager,” Crump said, adding that Brennand referred to Cantu as a Hispanic kid with a bowl-shaped haircut. Crump and his co-lawyer, Paul Grink, who is working on the Cantua case, did not respond to requests for comment.
Cantu’s father said he came to the conclusion that his son was profiled after discussions with the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office.
In a letter to the community, organizers of the candlelight vigil for Cantu stated, “Brennan Eric was racially profiled in a car by a Hispanic kid with a bowl haircut that he may or may not have realized he stole.
Organizers of the vigil, along with Cantu’s family, are demanding two counts of attempted murder against Brennand. No such charge exists in Texas.
Brennand has already been charged with the highest possible charge for the shooting — assault by a public servant, a first-degree felony punishable by 5-99 years in prison. Those charges can be elevated to murder if the teenager surrenders.
A vigil will be held Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the McDonald’s located in the 11700 block of Blanco Road where the shooting occurred.
A spokeswoman for the DA’s office declined to comment Monday, saying it is their policy not to comment publicly on the facts of a pending case.
“Chief McManus addressed Brennan’s actions the night of the shooting. As this case is now in the hands of the District Attorney’s Office, the department has no further comment,” a spokesperson for SAPD wrote in a statement to KSAT on Monday.
Cantu is still on life support at University Hospital.
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