The former Arlington, Texas cop who shot and killed a football player last month had been rejected twice by the Arlington Police Department before he was hired on the third try, according to the New York Daily News.
Brad Miller, 49, was fired in August by the police department after he shot and killed unarmed Christian Taylor, 19, during a reported break-in at the Classic Buick GMC. Miller had not been on the force long at the time of the shooting.
The former Chick-fil-A cashier, marketer and hairstylist first applied to the department in 2011, but he was not "hired before the application expired a year after its submission date," writes the News. "He applied again, but failed a physical exam. He went on a diet, started a fitness regimen and reapplied exactly six months later, when he was finally hired as a 48-year-old recruit."
He was hired last fall and was still in training when the fatal shooting occurred. Arlington Police Chief Will D. Johnson said that Miller was fired for making mistakes in the shooting, which included entering the dealership without his more experienced partner, leading to "an environment of cascading consequences," reports the New York Times.
As The Root reported earlier, Miller told investigators that after he entered the dealership, he encountered Taylor and believed that he was going to be overpowered. But NBC News reported that his training officer was only 4 feet away when he shot the teen.
"This fear and feeling of isolation was the result of his poor decision to enter the building without assistance and without an arrest plan," Johnson told NBC News.
Read more at the New York Daily News and the New York Times.