Robbie Tolan dreamed of a career with Major League Baseball.

The 23-year-old, by all accounts, was looking forward to spring training and hoping to move on from the minor leagues after a stint in 2008 for Texas City’s Bay Area Toros of the Continental Baseball League and stretches in 2007 playing for the Washington Nationals rookie team, the Gulf Coast League Nationals, and the Hagerstown (Md.) Suns, a Class A team in the South Atlantic League.

His father, Bobby, was an outfielder for several teams, including the Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals, with whom he won a World Series title in 1967.

That dream is in serious jeopardy, now, as Tolan lies in a hospital recovering from bullet wounds after being shot in the driveway of his home in the tony Houston suburb of Bellaire by a white police officer.

Police said Tolan was shot at 2 a.m. New Year’s Eve while officers were investigating what they believed was a stolen vehicle. According to a statement released by the Bellaire Police Department, officers questioned Tolan and his cousin, Anthony Cooper, as they got out of a 2004 Nissan Xterra in the family’s driveway.

“An altercation ensued as officers attempted to detain and question these two suspects,” the statement said. “Sgt. Jeff Cotton of the Bellaire Police Department discharged his firearm, striking one of the suspects once. Sgt. Cotton then immediately summoned an ambulance and attempted to render aid until the ambulance arrived.”

According to the family’s lawyer, Geoffrey Berg, however, Tolan’s parents came outside and told police the car belonged to them, that Tolan and his cousin lived at the home. Both young men had been forced by police to lie on the ground, Berg said.

Hearing the commotion, Bobby and Marian Tolan, came out to investigate. At one point, Berg said, Cotton grabbed Marian Tolan and pushed her against the garage door. When Robbie Tolan made a move to protest, he was shot.

“After hearing from every member of the family, vouching for the young men, noting that they lived at the home and the car belonged to the family, Robbie was shot,” Berg said.

“He has a bullet in his liver that will never be removed, according to the doctors; a bullet pierced his lung, and fluid is being drained from it - and he’s got staples holding his wound together up the middle of his torso,” Berg told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

“After Robbie was shot," he said, "they separated Anthony, Marian and Bobby and put them in separate squad cars. One of them heard the dispatcher say, ‘That car is not stolen.’”

In its statement, the police department said it would not release any additional information or respond to queries while it continues the investigation with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. Cotton was placed on administrative leave pending the conclusion of the probe. The department said Cotton has been with the city since 1999 and had no record of disciplinary action.

A spokesman for the district attorney’s office told BlackAmericaWeb.com it would “take some time” before a report would be issued because officials wanted to interview every witness in the incident, including Tolan. Berg said Tolan, who was listed in stable condition in the intensive care unit at Ben Taub General Hospital, was conscious but in such severe pain that speaking was difficult.

“We have no confidence that the Bellaire Police Department will conduct any kind of fair investigation,” Berg said. “The newly elected district attorney (Patricia R. Lykos) says they’re going to conduct a vigorous and fair investigation, and we hope she will.”

According to Berg and the Houston Chronicle, city officials have declined to say whether they believe .....

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