Funeral Expenses for O’Shae Terry

I have been told several different versions about what happened to my 24 year old son. It is frustrating trying to get to the truth. The passenger that was in his car when he was shot says an officer drew his weapon and fired into his car because he thought he was about to drive away during a traffic stop about a registration sticker. He says his car never moved until the officer began shooting and that even then the movement was involuntary— a reaction to the pain of being shot. Police claim an officer’s arm was being rolled up in the window as the car drove away and that he somehow shot my son directly in his chest four times while he was falling from a moving vehicle without striking anything else but my son during the shooting.

The most exasperating thing about this entire ordeal is that my family and I shouldn’t have to guess about what happened to O’Shae. Not when taxpayer funded bodycam and dashcam footage captured exactly what happened that day. Those recordings are now in the hands of Arlington PD. I have asked that they allow me access to those videos so that I can no for myself what happened to my youngest son.

I have begun making preparations to bury my child. I wish no parent ever had to feel that pain. I raised O’Shea on my own since he was three years old— providing for him and his siblings by working in the medical field. O’Shea wasn’t always perfect but his life mattered. He loved to make people smile. He was generous. He was industrious— teaching himself about auctions and buying/selling cars. He had plans to grow his business and start a family and live a complete life and I planned to be there to witness it all. Our hopes were crushed Saturday. They didn’t have to be. We want to know why. We want justice.



Case summary

O’Shea Terry was a 24 year old black male resident of Fort Worth, TX. He was pulled over by a female Arlington PD Officer Saturday afternoon while driving a Chevrolet Tahoe due to an expired tag. He and his passenger, Terrance Harmon, were asked to provide identification by the officer to which they readily complied. A second male officer arrived to the scene and took up position at the passenger side door. The men were instructed to let their windows down to which they also complied rolling the windows 2/3 the way down. They were told that was sufficient. Officers claimed to smell the odor of marijuana emanating from the vehicle. After the female officer returned to her cruiser Terry attempted to start the car. The male officer began shouting instructions for him not to do that. Terry responded he was not going to go anywhere. According to the passenger, Harmon, the officer then drew his weapon and pointed it at Terry who had one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the gear shift. Harmon says the first attempt to start the engine failed and Terry attempted it to start the engine a second time when the officer opened fire. According to Harmon, Terry did not move the car forward until after he had been shot and he was not in control of the vehicle. APD claims, Terry turned on the engine and began rolling up the windows of the his vehicle trapping the officers left arm into the interior cabin and pulling him forward with the vehicle. The officer reached for his weapon with his right hand and fired into the vehicle as it was in motion prior to falling to the ground. Harmon had to pull Terry’s leg off the gas petal and press the break himself in order to bring the car to a stop further up the road. Police later recovered a gun, marijuana and ecstasy pills in a back near the back of the SUV.