NAACP FAULTS OFFICERS' USE OF FORCE IN DRUG RAID

Irving Police Say Man Who Was Shot 9 Times Wielded Pistol

The NAACP is questioning the Irving Police Department's use of force after
a January drug raid in which officers shot a Dallas man nine times, killing
him.

Police said Bennie Ray Rice, 40, was inside a motel room Jan. 23 with crack
cocaine and marijuana when three Irving tactical officers serving a search
warrant shot Mr. Rice. Police said the man was wielding a pistol.

Members of the Irving branch of the NAACP and the Dallas West
Interdenominational Ministers Alliance, along with members of Mr. Rice's
family, said they think officers responded inappropriately. They also
question whether Mr. Rice was holding a weapon.

"He needed to be arrested, but he didn't need to be shot down like an
animal," said Anthony Bond, president of the Irving NAACP.

Irving police spokesman David Tull said that the department has finished
its investigation of the shooting and that the results were forwarded to
the Dallas County district attorney's office.

Officer Tull said that because the investigative process is still under
way, he could not comment on the three officers' actions.

Eric Mountin, chief of the district attorney's public integrity division,
also declined to comment about specifics of the case because it has not
been presented to a grand jury.

Mr. Mountin said that generally, he examines deadly force cases to see
whether they fall within state law.

"The amount of force is not necessarily indicated by the number of shots
fired," he said. "Our review of all cases is to determine if there is
justification or if it was criminal in nature, which is largely determined
by the circumstances."

Mr. Rice was living at the Skyway Inn on State Highway 183 with his
21-year-old girlfriend. On Jan. 23, a 15-year-old prostitute was also in
the room with them, according to police reports.

Police said they were serving a felony search warrant and looking for
cocaine when officers came to Mr. Rice's room. The officers identified
themselves and were confronted by Mr. Rice, who pointed a pistol at them,
police have said.

Mr. Bond said the woman and girl told him that although Mr. Rice had a
handgun in the room, he never took it out of its holster. A witness also
told Mr. Bond that the men breaking windows in the hotel room never
identified themselves as police, Mr. Bond said.

"They said when he saw it was the police, he held his hands up and said,
'Please don't shoot,' " Mr. Bond said. "And it was a motel room where he
had only one way out."

The autopsy conducted by the Dallas County medical examiner's office found
that Mr. Rice suffered nine gunshot wounds - one shot went through his
face, two through his thigh and groin area, and six other shots hit him
from the back.

Toxicology tests on Mr. Rice showed no evidence of drugs, according to the
autopsy.

Mr. Rice, a father of four, had been a truck driver but lost his license,
Mr. Bond said. Recently, Mr. Rice's license was returned and he was getting
his life back together, Mr. Bond said.

Because he had restored a Mercedes and a Jaguar, Mr. Rice might have been
perceived as a drug dealer, Mr. Bond said.

"Bennie may have been small-time or had very tiny drug involvement, but he
was anything but a major drug dealer," Mr. Bond said.

Maxine Hollins and Ben Rice, Mr. Rice's mother and father, filed a
complaint a week after their son's shooting, blaming the Irving police for
excessive force.

"It was uncalled for," Ms. Hollins said. "They need to take responsibility
for his wrongful death. They didn't have to kill him. There were enough of
them there, they could have shot him in the leg."

Ms. Hollins said she was surprised when police told her that her son had
been threatening officers, because it was uncharacteristic of her son.

"I didn't believe it then and I don't believe it now," she said.

Dr. M.L. Curry, president of the Dallas West Interdenominational Ministers
Alliance, sent a letter to Irving Police Chief Lowell Cannaday questioning
the shooting.

"There have been numerous amounts of shooting by police in the
African-American community in Irving, Texas," Mr. Curry wrote in the
letter. "We want these shootings to stop and ask for better community
relations between the Police Department and the minority community."

Irving officers have been involved in several police shootings during the
last decade.

In September 2000, a 60-year-old man was killed by Irving officers who were
serving a search warrant at his West Dallas home.

Family members of Juan Mendoza Fernandez said he didn't understand the
officers' instructions because he didn't speak English fluently. Irving
police said that they thought Mr. Fernandez understood that officers were
seeking entry and that Mr. Fernandez pointed a gun at officers who sought
to serve narcotics and arrest warrants.

In October 1999, Irving police shot and killed Charles Howard Cook, 41, in
a shootout in a parking lot near Airport Freeway and Story Road. Police
said the shooting may have been "suicide by cop," in which a person compels
officers to kill him.