The barrage of bullets that killed a Houston-area deputy was captured by his own dash and body-worn cameras, court records show
By Rosa Flores, CNN
In what would be his last moments, the 12-year veteran deputy constable sat in his squad car minutes after midnight as the driver’s door of the car ahead of him opened.
Cpl. Charles Galloway had just made the traffic stop and was trying to contact a dispatcher when a man got out of the white Toyota Avalon.
He turned toward Galloway and pointed at him with what looked like a rifle.
Then, he fired — again and again — in Galloway’s direction, according to a probable cause document filed in Harris County, Texas, District Court that cites dash and body-worn camera recordings of the barrage. The recordings themselves have not been released.
As bullets penetrated the windshield, Galloway sat in his patrol vehicle’s driver’s seat. He was hit several times, his own body-worn camera shows, the court documents say.
Galloway, 47, died primarily from a gunshot wound to the head, the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences later determined. His death came as the number of law enforcement officers feloniously killed in the line of duty has hit its highest point since September 11, 2001, according to preliminary 2021 data from the FBI, and as gun violence has risen nationwide.
After firing the shots at Galloway sometime between 12:30 a.m. and 12:50 a.m. on January 23, the man in the video returned to the white Avalon and drove away, court documents show.
Police soon ran its license plates, which led them to the person they call the “common-law wife” of 50-year-old Oscar Rosales. She, according to court records, identified Rosales as the man who got out of the white Toyota, as captured by Galloway’s dash camera video, and the white Avalon as being the one that she said she owned and that he had been driving.
After an international manhunt, Rosales was arrested last week by Mexican authorities in Ciudad Acuña, just across the border from Del Rio, Texas. He had been wanted for crimes committed in 1996 in Harris County and also for murder in El Salvador, the Harris County district attorney said Thursday. Rosales is from El Salvador and is not a US citizen, court documents obtained by CNN show.
Rosales was transferred to Harris County and is being held without bail on capital murder of a police officer charges in relation to Galloway’s death, court records show. His attorney, Allen Tanner, had no comment Monday, he told CNN. Rosales is next due in court February 23, court records show.
Rosales’ jail visitations have been limited to his attorneys and a private investigator and have excluded reporters, according to Harris County District Court records. Rosales was deemed indigent and was appointed an attorney, court records show.
Galloway, a deputy constable of Harris County Constable Precinct 5, is survived by a daughter, his sister and “the numerous officers here in Precinct 5 who are trained by him,” mentored by him “and who are going to miss him tremendously,” his comrade Harris County Precinct 5 Constable Ted Heap has said.
Funeral services for Galloway are set for Tuesday morning.
The-CNN-Wire
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