Imagine going to McDonald’s for a late-night bite and horribly being shot at by police. Well, 17-year-old Erik Cantu didn’t have to imagine that. What he thought was going to be a normal run to McDonald’s may have just cost him his life  

On Oct. 2, around 10:45 p.m., officer James Brennand responded to a call at Mcdonald’s for an unrelated disturbance call, according to police. While Brennand was collecting statements from the witness, he noticed a vehicle that he thought had evaded him the day before at a traffic stop. 

In body camera footage released by police, Brennand stops what he’s doing and goes up to the parked car. Assuming the officer didn’t think twice or take a second of his training to properly handle this situation, Brennand goes up to the car and flings the door open. Once done so you can hear him saying ”Get out of the car.”

Erik grabs the wheel and tries to turn it with the door open, completely unarmed with just a burger in his lap. Then Brennand reaches for his gun and starts shooting at him. In the video you then see the teen driving off for his life. 

Erik Cantu is now on life support and remains unconscious. James Brennand turned himself in on two charges of aggravated assault by a public servant. He was released at 4:03 a.m. CT after posting a $100,000 bond for each count, according to the sheriff’s office.

As of Oct. 7, aggravated assault charges against Cantu have been dropped by Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales. “I’ve instructed my office to dismiss the cases against this young man… That’s not to say that charges can’t or won’t be brought against that individual, but for now, that is the decision that we are making,” Gonzales said. 

This is a complete and utter shock because that is not right that a police officer is the reason a young teen is on life support and might cost him his life. So far, he does not have any pending charges for any crimes. Justice was definitely not given to the victim or the victim’s family. 

“I think it just shows how corrupt the police are and how big organizations like that will always side instantly. Which kinda disproves the whole bad apple theory,” senior Noah Davila said.

Davila is right about the bad apple analogy within this scenario. 

Davila also stated how he feels like the cop should be “tried and made an example out of.” This shows that police are getting away with too big of things and this needs to end, hopefully starting with Brennand.