Katy community asked to support efforts to rename law after longtime resident

By George Slaughter, News Editor
Posted 3/9/23

The family of a longtime Katy resident is asking the public’s help in supporting an effort to rename a public law in his memory.

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Katy community asked to support efforts to rename law after longtime resident

Posted

The family of a longtime Katy resident is asking the public’s help in supporting an effort to rename a public law in his memory.

Nicolas Chavez grew up in Katy and attended Morton Ranch High. The Chavez family lived near the North Fry Road-Morton Road intersection, later moving to a subdivision near the Clay Road-North Fry Road intersection. His mother, Leantha, said Nicolas left school after passing his equivalency test during his sophomore year.

“He had a lot of friends and parents that he knew and loved,” Chavez said.

The Chavez family moved to the East Houston area. Nicolas went through some struggles but got things in order and settled into his career. Chavez said Nicolas joined a swimming pool construction company and became a foreman in six months.

“He was very driven,” Chavez said. “I was so proud of him.”

But things changed in April, 2021. According to reports, Chavez suffered a mental health breakdown and was involved in an incident where four Houston Police officers shot him multiple times, killing him.

A Harris County grand jury in September 2021 declined to return an indictment against the officers, according to reports.

The Houston Police Department fired the four officers. But according to reports, the four officers—Sgt. Benjamin LeBlanc, officers Patrick Rubio, Omar Tapia and Luis Alvarado—appealed their firings with an arbitrator. Their appeal was successful and they were reinstated to duty in March 2022.

Chavez called it a miscarriage of justice.

“He should not have been shot 29 times while he was unarmed and on his knees,” Chavez said.

One change that came from this situation, Chavez said, was a federal law, supported by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. The law, known as the Law Enforcement De-Escalation Training Act of 2022, provides for training on alternatives to the use of force, including de-escalation and mental and behavioral health and suicidal crises.

Chavez is leading a petition drive to change the law’s title to include Nicolas Chavez’s name.

“It just kind of hit me, and it felt right to do this,” Chavez said.

Chavez said the petition, which is online at the abbreviated website URL bit.ly/3mqlOIVXX, has about 200 signatures. She is asking Nicolas’s friends to visit the website and sign the petition.

She said she is also writing a letter to Cornyn urging the change.

petition, Houston Police