{"id":98031,"date":"2025-07-28T00:28:29","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T00:28:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/98031\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T00:28:29","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T00:28:29","slug":"52-years-later-community-in-dallas-remembers-santos-rodriguez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/98031\/","title":{"rendered":"52 years later, community in Dallas remembers Santos Rodriguez"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fifty two years after a Dallas police officer wrongfully detained and killed 12-year-old Santos Rodriguez<\/a>, the Dallas community again gathered to commemorate his short life.<\/p>\n

The memorial held at Pike Park, where Santos loved to play, featured organizers and elected officials who shared their connection to the Rodriguez family and called on the community to continue fighting for justice in his name. <\/p>\n

The boy\u2019s killing shocked the city, and marked a pivotal moment for community organizing in Little Mexico, the neighborhood where Santos lived that is now part of Uptown. <\/p>\n

Days after the preteen\u2019s death, protesters marched through downtown Dallas demanding justice. <\/p>\n

Breaking News<\/p>\n

Get the latest breaking news from North Texas and beyond.<\/p>\n

\"SignsSigns and posters remain during a memorial gathering for Santos Rodriguez by the city of Dallas, on Thursday, July 24, 2025, at Pike Park in Dallas. The murder of Santos Rodriguez, a 12-year-old Mexican American, by a police officer in 1973 marked a pivotal moment for community organizing in Little Mexico, the former neighborhood where Santos lived. (Shafkat Anowar \/ Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n

It was about 2 a.m. on July 24, 1973, when Dallas police went to the home of Santos and his brother while investigating a vending machine robbery at a gas station in what is now the Victory Park area. Then-Officer Darrell Cain pointed a gun at Santos in a Russian roulette-style interrogation, trying to force the child to confess to stealing $8 in change from a vending machine. <\/p>\n

Santos denied being involved in any theft and was shot in the head while handcuffed inside Cain\u2019s patrol car. Santos\u2019 then 13-year-old brother, David, was also detained and witnessed the shooting. <\/p>\n

Investigators later found that fingerprints found at the crime scene did not belong to David or Santos.<\/p>\n

Cain was later charged and convicted of murder with malice. He was sentenced to five years in prison, only serving half that time. Nicolas Quintanilla, a speaker at Thursday\u2019s event, called Cain\u2019s punishment \u201cminor\u201d and \u201coffensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rodriguez family didn\u2019t receive an apology from the city until 2013, given by then-Mayor Mike Rawlings. Former Dallas police Chief Eddie Garc\u00eda apologized<\/a> to Santos\u2019 family in 2021. Through the decades, the story of Santos has echoed as protests continue over police injustice. Lt. Eddie Reyes attended on behalf of the Dallas Police Department on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Santos\u2019 mother, Bessie Rodriguez, died in 2023, two years after receiving the apology from Dallas police. His brother, David, is still alive but was unable to attend on Thursday. <\/p>\n

Hadi Jawad, co-founder and president of Human Rights Dallas, called Santos\u2019 death an important, if painful, chapter in Dallas\u2019 history. He has been working with fellow community organizers since 2013 to commemorate Santos\u2019 life each year on the anniversary of his killing by police. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt teaches us so much \u2026 about our social fabric, the morals, the historical aspect,\u201d he said. \u201cThis tragedy affected the Hispanic community as severely \u2014 it was as impactful \u2014 as the assassination of John Kennedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jawad said when he first approached city officials about acknowledging Santos\u2019 death, they thought the community had moved on. The healing is far from over, he said, so he kept pushing for a celebration of the child<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A statue of Santos<\/a> now stands in Pike Park, one of the last remaining vestiges of Little Mexico. Jawad said he hopes the park can serve as a gathering place for anyone who has lost loved ones from gun violence.<\/p>\n

Texas Sen. Royce West, who was in attendance on Thursday, said he was a student when Santos was killed and remembers it vividly. While he celebrated the progress that has been made since 1973, he reminded the community that those gains need to be protected and preserved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot forget what occurred. You cannot forget what occurred,\u201d he said. \u201cOnce the baton is passed to you, you need to make certain that on this day, and each and every day, you remember Santos.\u201d<\/p>\n

A representative from U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett\u2019s office read a proclamation from the Dallas congresswoman.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver 50 years ago, our city was shaken by a tragedy that stole a young life and exposed deep wounds that many in our communities still carry. But from that pain, a powerful movement grew,\u201d the statement read. \u201cI stand with you in honoring his memory and fighting for a Dallas where justice isn\u2019t delayed and dignity isn\u2019t optional.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to community speakers, Fabian Herrera Jr., a dancer based in Dallas, performed a piece Thursday in Santos\u2019 memory with his wife, Madi Frampton-Herrera, and their daughter. <\/p>\n

\"FabianFabian Herrera of the Herrera Dance Project performs during a memorial gathering for Santos Rodriguez by the city of Dallas, on Thursday, July 24, 2025, at Pike Park in Dallas. The murder of Santos Rodriguez, a 12-year-old Mexican American, by a police officer in 1973 marked a pivotal moment for community organizing in Little Mexico, the former neighborhood where Santos lived. (Shafkat Anowar \/ Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n

The dance tribute originated from a production Herrera\u2019s dance company organized last year called Echoes of Justice, which was dedicated to Santos. He was inspired to choreograph the dance because he realized many people in Dallas were unaware of that piece of the city\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you tap into people\u2019s feelings, you can get them to care and find meaning,\u201d Herrera said. \u201cIt makes you think on a critical level about what you can do to contribute change or what you can do to educate others on the story.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fifty two years after a Dallas police officer wrongfully detained and killed 12-year-old Santos Rodriguez, the Dallas community…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":98032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,14842,21678,35347,50,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-98031","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-police","11":"tag-equity","12":"tag-hispanic-dfw","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-tx","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114928032363733672","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}