A Philadelphia policeman was charged with murder for shooting a 12-year-old boy in the back who opened fire on his car and then fled.
Officer Esaul Mendoza, 26, dismissed by the police in April, was arrested on Sunday for the death of Thomas Siderio in March. Mendoza, who was in civilian clothes at the time of the shooting, was engaged in a surveillance operation with three other agents in Philadelphia which, like so many other cities in the United States, is in the throes of a crime wave. Seeing Siderio and another 17-year-old young man, the police decided to go around the block.
When the headlights were turned on the three boys, the 12-year-old opened fire on their car, according to the judge’s reconstruction. Mendoza responded by firing three times at the boy who was escaping. Another officer also opened fire. According to prosecutor Larry Krasner, who viewed video footage from security cameras and called them “very difficult to watch,” the “five-foot-tall” teenager had already dropped his gun when he was killed. .