Bessie Rodriguez, a Dallas woman whose 12-year-old son was shot by a Dallas police officer in 1973, peacefully passed away Wednesday night, family members confirmed to Star-Telegram media partner, WFAA-TV. She was 80 years old.
Rodriguez had been battling an illness, according to the WFAA report.
The killing of her son, Santos, sparked widespread outrage in Dallas’ Chicano community.
On July 24, 1973, Santos and his 13-year-old brother, David Rodriguez, were arrested at their home by Dallas police officers Darrell Lee Cain and Roy R. Arnold for an alleged petty theft at a gas station. The brothers were accused of burglarizing and stealing $8 from a soda machine at the gas station.
While in the police car, Cain aimed his .357 Magnum revolver at Santos’ head and warned him to tell the truth about the burglary. Playing Russian roulette, Cain pulled the trigger once and then warned Santos again. Pulling the trigger a second time, Cain shot Santos in the back of the head just after the boy told the officer, “I am telling the truth.”
Protests erupted in Dallas, with members of the Chicano community demanding justice and police reform from the Dallas police chief at the time, Frank Dyson, and the Dallas city council.
On Nov. 16, 1973, a jury found Cain guilty of murder with malice, sentencing him to five years in prison. Cain served two-and-a-half years in Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville. According to the director of the Texas Department of Corrections, Cain behaved as a model prisoner, which earned him an early release.
In 1978, LULAC, Texas Latino legislators, and other civil rights organizations appealed to President Jimmy Carter for his assistance to file federal charges against Cain. Carter gave assurances that the Department of Justice would review the case. Attorney General Griffin Bell declined to pursue additional charges, however, citing the length of time since the crime.
It wasn’t until July 2021, in a ceremony marking the 48 years since Santos’ death, that Bessie received an apology from the Dallas Police Department.
Highlighting how much Santos meant to her, Bessie said in a 2020 interview with WFAA, “He meant everything to me. He was my son. What they did to him was an injustice. My boys didn’t have a chance.”
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