Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price Announces Special Panel To Review Police Use Of Force In Wake Of Deadly Shooting Of Atatiana Jefferson

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - A special panel will be formed to evaluate and review the Fort Worth Police Department's policies and practices tied to use of force.

Mayor Betsy Price announced Tuesday a directive issued to City Manager David Cook to craft an external panel to examine the FWPD.

"This is a top priority the city needs to address. As Mayor, I'm asking (the City Manager) to take immediate action to bring in a third party panel to review police procedures, use of force and processes we have in place," Price announced.

Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price (CBS 11)

The review panel comes after the shooting death of Fort Worth resident Atatiana Jefferson by police officer Aaron Dean.

Dean shot Jefferson last Saturday, after being dispatched to a wellfare check at her house.

Body cam video released by FWPD shows Dean firing once through a window. Dean was arrested on a murder charge. He resigned from the department.

The shooting became the ninth officer involved shooting for FWPD this year.

The Texas Black Legislative Caucus has called for a review of police policy on use of force and police de-escalation procedures.

State Representative Nicole Collier of Fort Worth said Tuesday Jefferson's death made her angry, and she demands change.

"We shouldn't have people die as a result of a welfare check," Collier said.

The brother of victim Atatiana Jefferson, Adarius Carr, said the shooting death of his sister was a failure of police training, in concert with the officer who fired the shot.

"Whoever was with him, whoever sent him out there failed him. The training failed him. There's a lot that has to get fixed. The city failed him," Carr said.

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