SAN ANTONIO – The family of the 17-year-old man who was shot by a San Antonio police officer while eating a hamburger in the parking lot of a McDonald’s in San Antonio earlier this month announced that they are still fighting for his life with the help of life support.
Erik Cantú Jr. is accompanied every day by relatives to the hospital and what they had to see is heartbreaking. Relatives updated the young man’s conditions at a press conference.
Erik’s parents, Eric Cantú Sr., 44, and Victoria Casarez, 40, spoke publicly along with other relatives of the victim and a team of lawyers representing them, including famous lawyer Ben Crump.
? He (Erik) is cut from the center of his chest to his stomach, has staples, tubes in his mouth and on the sides of his torso? said the young man’s father.
During his stay in the hospital, Erik developed pneumonia and suffers from high fevers.
Family members said Erik is being given a cocktail of medicines to keep him alive.
Attorney Crump said Erik goes into cardiac arrest whenever they try to remove narcotics from his medication routine.
Erik’s mother shared that her son still has a bullet lodged near his heart which, if removed, would do more harm than good. She also commented that her son relives the night of the shooting.
“Erik is hallucinating where he’s trying to raise his hands and he’s trying to step on the pedals of the vehicle and he’s making gun symbols. He asks us to close the car door and apologizes constantly. Is that something very sad? Said her mother.
Officer James Brennand, 25, was charged with Erik’s shooting on October 2, according to San Antonio police.
Brennand, a San Antonio police rookie, reported a vehicle containing Cantú on the day of the accident as the same one he had escaped during a traffic stop a day earlier. Brennand said Cantu stole the vehicle.
In the camera footage of the officer’s body, Brennand opens the door and tells Cantú to get out of the vehicle. The vehicle backs up with the door open and the officer fires several times. Brennand continues firing as the vehicle pulls away.
Investigators quickly determined that the use of deadly force was unnecessary and Brennand was fired and the charges against Cantu for aggravated assault and avoidance of arrest were dropped.
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