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Charles Payne Sr.

Age : 75

Gender : Male

Race : Black

Date : 12/26/2021

Location : 4600 block of North Shepherd Drive near Thornton Road

City : Houston

County : Harris

State : Texas

Agency : Houston Police Department

Officer(s) :Christopher Cabrera

Cause of Death : Vehicle

Event : Bystander killed by police vehicle crash

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

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REASON WHY POLICE VEHICLE WAS SPEEDING:
Officer Christopher Cabrera was returning to his station after booking a DWI arrestee and was hurrying to complete paperwork and file charges. He was not responding to an emergency and did not have his emergency lights or siren activated.
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EVENT NARRATIVE:
On 12/26/2021, at approximately 12:00 p.m., 75-year-old Charles Payne Sr. was driving south on North Shepherd Drive after leaving a Sunday church service. Payne approached Thornton Road in his Cadillac CTS, signaled and began making a left turn across the northbound lanes. Houston Police Department Officer Christopher Cabrera was driving a marked police SUV north on North Shepherd Drive.
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Cabrera was not responding to an emergency and was driving without emergency lights or siren. Vehicle data and subsequent court proceedings established that Cabrera reached approximately 70 mph on the 35-mph roadway. Immediately before the collision, Cabrera was traveling approximately twice the speed limit and had looked down at his police laptop. The Fifth Circuit later stated that if Cabrera had been traveling at the speed limit, the collision would not have occurred.
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Cabrera's police SUV struck Payne's Cadillac as Payne turned across the northbound lanes. Surveillance footage showed the violent impact sending Payne's Cadillac onto the sidewalk and approximately a block down the roadway, while Cabrera's police SUV struck a concrete pole. Payne suffered severe injuries and was transported to Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, where he died. Cabrera sustained minor injuries.
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Payne was a father of seven and grandfather who had just left The Community of Faith Church before the crash. His family said he regularly attended Sunday services there and was driving home when Cabrera struck him.
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TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES:
1 Fatality, 1 Injury.
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EYEWITNESS OR FAMILY STATEMENTS:
Payne's family maintained from the beginning that Cabrera's excessive speed caused the crash and demanded accountability from HPD. The family later alleged in federal court that Payne's death reflected a broader departmental practice that permitted officers to speed without emergency lights or sirens and without adequate consequences. A federal jury ultimately agreed that the City of Houston's policies demonstrated deliberate indifference to public safety.
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DISPOSITION:
HPD relieved Cabrera of duty while the crash was investigated. A Harris County grand jury subsequently considered a potential criminally negligent homicide charge and returned a no bill, declining to indict him. HPD suspended Cabrera for 45 days without pay and required two days of remedial traffic-safety training. He was not criminally charged.
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LITIGATION:
Payne's widow Harriet Payne and seven children pursued litigation against Cabrera and the City of Houston. The federal action, Payne et al. v. City of Houston, Texas et al., Case No. 4:23-cv-04686, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on 12/15/2023. In March 2024, the court dismissed the federal civil-rights claim against Cabrera but allowed claims against the City to continue.
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The City attempted to obtain dismissal based on governmental immunity, but on 04/03/2025 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected that argument, concluding that Cabrera was not reacting to an emergency and that the allegations supported a finding of reckless conduct.
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In November 2025, following an eight-day federal trial, a jury found the City of Houston liable and awarded Payne's family $13 million. Evidence presented at trial included patrol-vehicle data indicating that Cabrera frequently drove substantially above posted speed limits on surface streets even when he was not responding to emergencies. Civil-rights attorney Ben Crump was among the attorneys representing Payne's family. The City subsequently challenged and appealed the verdict; that challenge remained ongoing in 2026.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Christopher Cabrera was 28 years old at the time of the crash. Evidence presented during the family's civil case included patrol-vehicle data indicating that Cabrera had repeatedly driven 20 to 30 mph above posted speed limits on surface streets when he was not responding to emergency calls. Cabrera testified that whether he regularly drove that far above the speed limit depended on the circumstances, stating, "We are in a city."

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.houstontx.gov/police/nr/2021/dec/nr211228-02.htm
https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2021/12/27/77-year-old-victim-killed-in-crash-involving-hpd-patrol-unit-identified-by-family/
https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2021/12/28/officer-relieved-of-duty-following-crash-that-killed-77-year-old-man-hpd-says/
https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2022/01/26/hpd-releases-body-camera-video-in-officer-involved-crash-that-killed-75-year-old-man/
https://abc13.com/post/hpd-officer-was-speeding-before-deadly-crash-2021-takes-stand-civil-trial/18152871/
https://abc13.com/18170282/
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca5/24-20150/24-20150-2025-04-03.html
https://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/texas/txsdce/4%3A2023cv04686/1944948/20
https://dockets.justia.com/docket/texas/txsdce/4%3A2023cv04686/1944948
https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/unpub/24/24-20150.0.pdf
https://abc13.com/post/houston-leaders-review-hpd-hfd-crash-response-following-charles-payne-lawsuit/18581655/