Hearne City Council members will be briefed Saturday on the investigation of the fatal shooting of a 93-year-old woman by police officer Stephen Stem.
The specially called meeting at 1:30 p.m. regarding the death of Pearlie Golden was requested by Mayor Ruben Gomez to determine if Stem should be disciplined or terminated or if the officer should be kept on paid administrative leave.
According to Roberston County District Attorney Coty Siegert, Stem discharged four rounds during the incident and struck Golden twice -- once in the right arm and once in the upper chest.
Authorities have said Golden was shot after brandishing a .38 revolver and not putting it down when commanded to.Â
Gomez has stated he intends to recommend Stem be terminated.
Three of the City Council members who will participate in any vote taken at the meeting -- Place 6 Councilman Steven Catalina, Place 4 Councilman Mathew Gomez and Place 2 Councilman Larry Welch -- are up for re-election on Saturday's Hearne city election ballot. Their opponents include Place 6 candidate Joyce Rattler, Place 4 candidate Hazel Embra and Place 2 candidate Lashunda White.
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William Foster, a Hearne native and community activist, said he's skeptical the council will vote to terminate Stem and thinks the council should have waited until Monday to meet and discuss the officer's employment.
"People are voting tomorrow and they should not be distracted by a meeting of City Council about some corrupt cop when that same City Council could have terminated him a year ago when he killed that kid," Foster said, referring to 28-year-old Tederalle Satchell, who was fatally shot by Stem on Dec. 30, 2012.
He added, "The scheduling could have been handled a little differently -- just like what happened with [Golden} should have been handled differently. It lends itself to the type of administration and leadership that we have in Hearne."
Stem -- who was hired by the Hearne Police Department in July 2012 -- was initially placed on administrative leave for his first fatal shooting incident, but was back on patrol within a few months after a grand jury no-billed him on criminal charges.
As many others in the town have, Foster questioned Stem's use of deadly force in the case of Satchell and expressed doubt that enough threat against the officer existed to warrant the fatal shooting.
"There's no reason for a police officer to go around contributing to the crime rate of this town," Foster said.
Several Hearne residents -- black and white -- have shared stories of alleged abuse by means of excessive force or questionable circumstances surrounding their arrests.
Lifelong Hearne resident Georgia Franklin, 46, said she was, in her belief, unnecessarily Tasered by officers during an incident last year when she was arrested for evading arrest.
She said she was on her way home from dropping her daughter off at school when she passed police speeding, which prompted them to attempt a traffic stop. Franklin acknowledged she should have stopped immediately, but said she instead chose to drive around the corner to her home and pull into the driveway.
Officers immediately came at her with handcuffs, she said, and when she pulled away confused as to why she was being arrested, they used a Taser on her two or three times.
Franklin, who is black, said that the two officers involved in the incident were white females.
According to records from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education, Hearne currently has 13 full-time officers, including Chief Thomas Williams. Additionally, the department has three reserve officers.
The chief is one of four black officers on the force, including the reserves, and the remaining 12 officers are white, according to the records. The department has one female active-duty officer, and one female reserve officer.
While those from the black community who've been outspoken since Golden's shooting have stressed that they do not want to overplay the racial implications of the incident, they say they're tired of the years of unfair treatment by Hearne police.
The death of Golden is the final straw for many, including Foster.
"There's not justification to kill a 93-year-old woman. There's just not," he said. "You're not going to keep killing our people like that. I don't care if they're black, white, green, yellow or orange."
Calls and messages left with Williams in an attempt to discuss claims from Hearne residents regarding the poor treatment by police of predominately black people, but others as well, were not returned Friday.
