A Dallas County grand jury has refused to criminally indict a Dallas police officer for the use of deadly force on an unarmed man.
Officer Clark Staller shot Clinton Allen, 25, seven times March 10 during an altercation at an Oak Cliff apartment complex where police were called for a disturbance.
A female resident called 911 after Allen refused to leave the outside of her apartment.
Staller said Allen refused to obey his commands and then tried to choke him, causing Staller to fear for his life and use deadly force
"He used his free get-out-of-jail card -- 'I feared for my life,'" said Allen's mother, Collette Flanagan. "If you notice, every one of the police shootings that happens, they all say, 'I feared for my life.' And when did you fear for your life; the seven shots -- are you kidding me?"
Autopsy reports revealed how many times Allen had been shot. The report also stated that he had trace amounts of marijuana and PCP in his system.
His family says the amounts are consistent with a possible use of drugs two days earlier but say he was not under the influence of anything at the time of the shooting.
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Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins said grand jurors got a look at all the evidence.
"We did everything we could, presented all the evidence to the grand jury, and we believe they made the right decision," he said.
However, the district attorney's office will ask county commissioners for $400,000 to start an independent unit to investigate all officer-involved shootings.
"There's a stigma in the community, the African-American community, that police officers get a break when they commit a crime, and so we address that by investigating this on our own," Watkins said.
Flanagan agrees that more oversight is needed in deadly force shootings involving police, but said it's too late for her son and his twin sons.
"It is the most horrific thing you can imagine," Flanagan said. "Clinton was my only son."
Flanagan said she will continue to shine a light on officer-involved shootings with protests and rallies, including possibly pressing for a travel and economic boycott of Dallas and a possible civil lawsuit.
"Mothers are tired of losing their sons," she said. "Our sons have value like anyone else's sons. This is bigger than Clinton."
