Bad Apples, Jonathan Price, October 3, 2020

 

Shuan Lucas, the Wolfe City Police Officer who shot Jonathan Price, has been charged with murder, the Texas Rangers said in a statement. “At approximately 8:24 p.m. on Oct. 3rd, 2020, Wolfe City Police Officer Shaun Lucas responded to a disturbance call at the 100 block of Santa Fe Street for a possible fight in progress,” the statement read. “Officer Lucas made contact with a man, later identified as 31-year-old Jonathan Price, who was reportedly involved in the disturbance. Officer Lucas attempted to detain Price, who resisted in a non-threatening posture and began walking away. Officer Lucas deployed his TASER, followed by discharging his service weapon striking Price. EMS was notified and Price was transported to Hunt Regional Hospital, where he later died. The preliminary investigation indicates that the actions of Officer Lucas were not objectionably reasonable. The Texas Rangers have charged Officer Lucas with the offense of Murder and booked him into the Hunt County Jail. …

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Price’s family and a witness said Price had tried to break up a domestic argument between a couple inside the store. The dispute continued outside the store, at which point police arrived. Police reportedly used a taser on Price before shooting him.

Price’s mother, Marcella Louis, told WFAA that she rushed to the gas station after learning her son had been shot. “They wouldn’t let me get close to my baby,” she said. “I just wanted to hold his hands. They wouldn’t let me do that… They took my son from me. They took my baby.”

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Lee Merritt, a lawyer representing Price’s family who’s also been involved in other high-profile civil rights and police brutality cases, wrote on Instagram Sunday: “Yesterday [Price] noticed a man assaulting a woman and he intervened. When police arrived, I’m told, he raised his hands and attempted to explain what was going on. Police fired tasers at him and when his body convulsed from the electrical current, they ‘perceived a threat’ and shot him to death.” On Monday, he [Merritt] appeared near the site of the shooting with Price’s family, and called for the officer involved to be arrested. “He deserves justice because he was a human citizen who was not breaking the law and he was gunned down by police officers,” he said.

According to reports, Price was a beloved figure in Wolfe City, a town of about 1,500 located about an hour northeast of Dallas. He’d been a star athlete at the city’s public schools growing up and had returned to his hometown, where he worked as a trainer and for the city’s public works department. Merritt wrote that “he was known as a hometown hero. Motivational speaker, trainer, professional athlete and community advocate — he was dearly loved by so many.”

Will Middlebrooks, a childhood friend of Price’s and an ex-professional baseball player, posted a photo of Price on Facebook along with the note: “See this face? This is the face of one of my childhood friends. The face of my first ever favorite teammate. The face of a good man. But unfortunately it’s the face of a man whose life was taken away from him last night with his hands in the air, while a small town East Texas cop shot him dead. Why? Bc he was trying to break up a fight at a gas station… for some reason he was singled out. I’ll let you do the math. There’s no excuses this time…’he was a criminal’… Nope, not this time. ‘He resisted arrest, just comply with the cops’.. Nope that one doesn’t work this time either. This was purely an act of racism. Period. So, for all of you that think this is all bullshit, you need to check yourselves.”(Blistein 1-3).

"My friend tried to break up a fight between a man and a woman at a gas station, bc that’s how we were raised. Don’t put your hands on a woman. Yet he was singled out in the fight, shot and killed... unarmed... no weapon... just his skin color," Middlebrooks posted on Twitter (Midkiff 1).

The entire interaction between Texas police officer Shaun Lucas and the 31-year-old Black man he shot and killed Saturday was captured in police body camera footage, according to the arrest affidavit released by investigators Wednesday.

Lucas, who is white, is facing murder charges following the incident at a gas station in Wolfe City. The investigation is being handled by the Texas Rangers.

Officer Shaun Lucas

Based on the bodycam footage, which has not been released to the public, the [police arrest] affidavit says that when Lucas arrived at the scene, Price greeted him and came "very close to Officer Lucas, asking 'You doing good?' multiple times while extending his hand in a handshake gesture."

"Price apologized for broken glass on the ground and stated someone had tried to 'wrap me up,'" the affidavit said.

Lucas told investigators that he thought that Price was intoxicated and attempted to detain Price, but Price allegedly stated, "I can't be detained," the affidavit said.

The officer then tried to detain Price "by grabbing his arm and using verbal commands," but was unsuccessful, the affidavit said. He then produced his Taser, according to the affidavit.

Lucas warned Price to comply or he would use his Taser, and when Price walked away, the officer fired the Taser, the affidavit said.

While being tased, Price walked toward Lucas and tried to reach for the weapon, at which point the officer took out his service weapon and fired four times, according to the affidavit.

Price died later that night at the hospital.

The affidavit concluded that the officer "did then and there intentionally and knowingly cause the death of Price by discharging a firearm."

Lucas was arrested Monday night on murder charges and held on $1 million bond.

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In a statement on Saturday's shooting, [Lucas’s attorney Robert] Rogers said, “Officer Lucas only discharged his weapon in accordance with Texas law when he was confronted with an aggressive assailant who was attempting to take his Taser."

"It's just -- this is just -- I can't wrap my brain around this," Lucas' stepfather told Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA Tuesday. "He's a good kid. He's devastated. He's devastated for everybody involved" (Pereira, Nathanson, and Scholz 1-2).

According to Texas Monthly, Price was raised by his single mom in Wolfe City, a small town northeast of Dallas. He was a high-school football star and went on to play at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene before working as a personal trainer in Dallas. He eventually moved back home and worked for the city government. He was known for giving inspirational talks to local athletes and working with kids, earning him the nickname Coach Price.

“I just grew up knowing him as the star athlete who was going to do big things someday,” an acquaintance told TM. “He was known as this stand-up guy who beat the odds.” Another friend called him a “pillar of the community.”

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Friends and family say that witnesses told them Price was there breaking up a domestic dispute. “The situation was resolved before law enforcement arrived, according to witnesses,” [Attorney] Merritt said. “Why this officer still felt the need to Tase and shoot Jonathan is beyond comprehension.” Witnesses also say that Price was shot in the back, but Texas Rangers haven’t commented on the specifics of where Lucas shot him.

“My son got life. I want him to get life,” Price’s mother, Marcella Louis, said of the charges against Lucas at a vigil in Wolfe City on Monday. “I want to see him have justice, to feel the pain I’m feeling.

Lucas has been placed on administrative leave. He was booked into the Hunt County jail on a $1 million bond; he is now being held in the Collin County jail. A full autopsy report of Price’s body is expected in six to eight weeks (Read 1-2).

A Fresno [California] family is pleading for people to remember the Texas man shot and killed a month ago by a rookie police officer in a small town.

"He was quiet," said Raylisa Price, whose brother, Jonathan, was gunned down Oct. 3. "He wasn't a mean person or violent. (He) just kept to himself, doing his thing."

Jonathan Price lived and died in northeast Texas, but he had two sisters, a nephew, and a niece in Fresno.

"All right," said family and friends as they released balloons in his honor. "This is for Jonathan Price. Say his name. Jonathan Price."

The name and the spirit of Jonathan Price flew across three states Tuesday as family members and friends marked his 32nd birthday.

The manner of his death made no sense to Jonathan's sister, Raylisa, who talked to Action News from her home in Fresno on her brother's birthday.

"He was just kind-hearted, like just soft-spoken," she said. "I've never seen him mad. Even if he was mad at something, he was just quiet, just mellow."

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Raylisa Price thinks the 22-year-old may have been the only police officer in town who didn't know her brother, but Jonathan treated him like any other law enforcement.

"Greeted him, wanted to shake his hand, asking him how he's doing, that's just how he was." she said. "So to tase him and shoot him up like that, I'm just shocked."

Lucas said he tried to detain Jonathan and when he struggled, he fired four shots -- deadly shots.

At Jonathan's funeral, family members said we should all strive to be like the always smiling city employee, fitness trainer, and mentor to dozens of kids.

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His sister wants to make sure people in the Central Valley and across the country remember her brother, and she wants Lucas to languish and be forgotten in prison.

"Because if my brother has to die and we can never see him again, he should never be able to see his family again," Raylisa Price said.

A grand jury convened Oct. 30 to decide what charges, if any, Lucas should face in court.

For now, he's in jail on a $1 million bail (Hoggard 1).

The white Texas police officer who tased and fatally shot Jonathan Price at a small town gas station this month is allegedly known by a number of locals for his overly-aggressive policing tactics.

Shaun Lucas, the Wolfe City police officer in question, had been on the force for less than six months before carrying out the deadly arrest of Price, an unarmed 31-year-old Black man.

Before Price’s shooting, however, Lucas had already cemented his reputation as an overzealous rookie with a tendency to harass the town’s Black residents, a number of locals claim, according to an investigation by the Washington Post.

In the weeks following Lucas’ arrival in the small Texas town of 1,400 people, residents used social media to warn their neighbors about the “new cop.” The 22-year-old police officer, locals complained, was “another mean police officer” who pulled over “everything that moves at night.”

“Where the hell did he come from?” Veronica Brown, a Wolfe City resident, told the Washington Post. “He is the worst cop Wolfe City ever had.”

Lucas arrested Brown’s 65-year-old cousin, she claimed, after the young police officer mistakenly suspected her elderly relative was intoxicated due to a limp.

“He thought I was drunk,” the man, James Alton Brown, told the Post. “So he took me to jail.”

The charges were ultimately dropped, the newspaper reported.

Other Black residents, too, questioned Lucas’ overzealous approach to law enforcement — and went out of their way to avoid him.

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“The officer, at some point, told Jon that he was going to be detained — Jon walked away,” [Attorney Lee] Merritt added. “He did not want to be detained. He was not interested in being detained, at which point Jon was tased."

After Lucas tased Price, he opened fire, letting off four rounds.

“The taser did not take Jon to the ground but it did cause his body to tense up and convulse from the shock,” Merritt explained. “While he was tensing up and convulsing from the shock he was shot.”

One bullet struck Pierce’s upper torso. Three other bullets were found lodged in an ice freezer at the gas station, according to the Post. Price was later pronounced dead at Hunt Regional Hospital. Body camera footage of the incident hasn’t yet been made available to the public (Geiger 1-2).

Blerim Elmazi, one of Price’s family attorneys, denied Price could have attempted to grab the stun gun because he was not close enough.

“The situation already was calm. There was no problem” when Lucas arrived,” said Elmazi. “Officer Lucas completely and unreasonably escalated a situation when there really was no situation to begin with” (Gray 1).

The former Wolfe City police officer charged with the murder of 31-year-old Jonathan Price has pleaded not guilty. He remains in custody at the Collin County Jail in lieu of a $1 million bond.

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An interim hearing to receive discovery evidence is set for May 4 (Cutshall 1).

[Paste the following on Google to watch an ABC produced video of initial coverage of the aftermath of the shooting]

What we know about the fatal police shooting of Jonathan ...

Works cited:

Blistein, Jon. “Jonathan Price Allegedly Tried to Break Up a Fight. Texas Police Killed Him.” Rolling Stone, updated October 6, 2020. Net.  https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/jonathan-price-police-killing-wolfe-city-texas-1071219/

Cutshall, Amanda. “Former Officer Pleads Not Guilty to Jonathan Price Shooting Death.” eExtraNews, April 7, 2021. Net. https://eparisextra.com/crime/former-officer-pleads-not-guilty-to-jonathan-price-shooting-death/

Geiger, Dorian. “Texas Cop Accused in Fatal Shooting of Black Man at Gas Station Has ‘History of Racism,’ Lawyer Says.” Oxygen, October 14, 2020. Net. https://www.oxygen.com/crime-news/jonathan-price-shooting-cop-shaun-lucas-has-history-of-racism

Gray, Madison J. “Jonathan Price Case: Ex-Cop Charged with Murder Harassed Black Residents.” BET, October 13, 2020. Net. https://www.bet.com/news/national/2020/10/13/jonathan-price-wolfe-city-shaun-lucas-police-killing.html

Hogard, Corin. “Fresno Family Pleads for Outrage, Justice after Texas Brother Killed by Police Officer.” ABC30, November 8, 2020. Net. https://abc30.com/fresno-family-jonathan-price-texas-man-killed/7715788/

Midkiff, Sarah. Jonathan Price Was a “Hometown Hero.” Police Shot & Killed Him for Trying To Break Up a Fight.” Refinery29, updated October 6, 2020. Net. https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/10/10074446/jonathan-price-police-shooting-wolfe-city-texas-murder-charge

Pereira, Ivan; Nathanson, Marc; and Scholz, James. “Bodycam Footage Suggests Jonathan Price Shooting Was Unwarranted, Affidavit Says.” ABC News, October 7, 2020. Net. https://abcnews.go.com/US/bodycam-footage-suggests-jonathan-price-shooting-unwarranted-affidavit/story?id=73484654

Read, Bridget. “Everything We Know about the Killing of Jonathan Price.” The Cut, October 8, 2020. Net. https://www.thecut.com/2020/10/everything-we-know-about-the-killing-of-jonathan-price.html

Bad Apples, Dijon Kizzee, August 31, 2020

An independent autopsy commissioned by the family of 29-year-old Black man Dijon Kizzee found that he was struck 15 times by Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies last month, attorneys for the family said Tuesday.

Seven of the shots fired by deputies struck Kizzee on his back side, including arms and hands, said Attorney Carl Douglas. The fatal shot struck Kizzee in a lung.

"He did not die instantly, he was writhing on the ground in pain when officers opened up on him," Douglas said.

"You can tell by the audio of the shooting that there were three or four shots, and then a pause, and 15 additional shots."

LASD investigators looking into the fatal shooting said last week that Kizzee picked up a gun he had dropped before two deputies fired 19 rounds.

The independent autopsy was conducted by Dr. John Hiserodt, who found that Kizzee bled to death after blood filled his lungs. Hiserodt believes Kizzee was shot even as he was moving around -- likely writhing in pain, according to a statement from Douglas.

"The deputies who fired their weapons, called for back-up, and spent several critical minutes waiting for back-up to arrive, while Dijon was bleeding to death in the street," the statement said. "The independent autopsy supports my contention that this shooting was an execution, plain and simple."

Douglas said the incident shows excessive force and that Kizzee was not posing a deadly threat to anyone.

"He was shot 19 times and I can care less what Sheriff Villanueva said seeking to justify that lack of humanity," Douglas said in response. "Nineteen times of firing into a man's body says to me that there's been poor training."

LASD said it had no comment regarding the private autopsy results (Moon 1).

Deputies first attempted to stop Kizzee on August 31 for "riding a bicycle on the wrong side of the road" and "splitting traffic," Wegener said in a news conference last Thursday. Kizzee refused to stop, abandoned his bicycle, and fled on foot with a green towel in one hand and a red and black jacket in the other hand, he said.

Kizzee's 9mm semi-automatic pistol, which was reported stolen in 2017, fell to the ground during the encounter with deputies. Wegener said Kizzee bent over and reached back to pick up the pistol before deputies fired. The gun was loaded with 15 live rounds.

Benjamin Crump, another attorney representing the Kizzee family, said last week that video footage of the incident contradicts the sheriff's department's findings.

On September 2, Crump posted a grainy cell phone video footage recorded from a house that purportedly shows the deputies pursuing Kizzee. It shows him walking away from the officers before one closes in on him. Kizzee appears to bend over before the deputy backs up rapidly and opens fire (Moon 2).

Two deputies told investigators they fatally shot Kizzee after he picked up the handgun he had dropped during a struggle with one of them, authorities said last week. A video shows him stooping down. But a wall blocks a full view, and no weapon can be seen.

It doesn’t appear the deputies tried to de-escalate the situation before shooting Kizzee. Authorities previously said Kizzee had only “made a motion” toward the gun but recently revised their narrative, saying the deputies have now claimed he had picked it up.

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Douglas said 19 gunshots show poor police training and a pervasive “warrior mentality” among law enforcement nationwide.

“Until we change that warrior mentality to more of a guardian mentality, there’s going to be more (families) who have lost loved ones,” he said. “There’s a scourge that patrols the county of Los Angeles.”

The attorneys also questioned why the deputies sought to stop Kizzee while he was bicycling, calling it another example of “biking while Black” and racial profiling (Levin 1).

[Snopes,com reported the following]

The sheriff’s department provided no new information about the case, but a department statement said deputies tried to stop Kizzee for riding his bicycle in violation of vehicle codes, without specifying the alleged infraction. Kizzee got off his bike and ran and the deputies briefly lost sight of him, the statement said.

The video shows a police SUV stop in a street. A deputy gets out, runs around a parked car and appears to try to grab Kizzee as he walks down the sidewalk. They tussle, standing, and move down the street together for several seconds. Kissee appears to throw a punch. Police have said he hit the deputy in the face but that’s not clear from the video.

The video then shows Kissee breaking free, stumbling and falling to the ground. A second deputy arrives. Within about 2 seconds, they repeatedly open fire.

Police have not said how many shots the deputies fired. The video obtained by the Times does not have audio, but another video from a front door camera that does not show the shooting captured the sound of about 15 rounds fired.

Kizzee’s relatives have described him as devoted to his late mother and 18-year-old brother. They said he was an energetic man who loved go-karts, cars and music and that he was working toward becoming a plumber.

The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, the largest in the nation, does not have body cameras for deputies, though that soon will change. The county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved funding and the first group of deputies will be equipped with cameras next month (Associated 1-2).

On Friday, The L.A. County Medical Examiner released the autopsy report of Dijon Kizzee, a 29 year-old man that was fatally shot by L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputies on August 31 in Westmont, CA. Sheriff’s Deputies previously said they fired a total of 19 shots at Kizzee. An independent autopsy conducted by the family that was released on September 22 found that Kizzee suffered 15 gunshot wounds.

According to the L.A. County Medical Examiner’s report, Kizzee suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the head, chest, shoulder, forearm, hand and buttocks. Additionally, Kizzee suffered abrasions to his face, shoulders, arm, right knee and chest. The L.A. County Medical Examiner’s report confirms what the family autopsy already revealed – Kizzee was shot from behind multiple times.

The report was placed on a “security hold” for nearly a month following the fatal shooting of Kizzee, beginning on September 2. On September 22 the department lifted the hold and on October 1 the report was completed, according to a spokesperson with the L.A. County Medical Examiner. According to the Sheriff’s Department, security holds are used to conceal information from witnesses and deputies involved in shootings.

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According to Carl Douglas, an attorney for the Kizzee family, Kizzee sustained multiple gunshot wounds while he was unarmed and on the ground. Pointing to a diagram at a September 22 press conference Douglas said, “[Gunshot wounds] E12 and E5 are elongated because Mr. Kizzee was on the ground when those grazing wounds were inflicted.”

The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department said that Kizzee was armed with a handgun when he was shot by Sheriff’s deputies during a September 17 press conference. Video evidence however does not show Kizzee pointing a gun at deputies before he was fatally shot (a wall obstructs the view.) And in initial reports, the department said that Kizzee only “made a motion” towards a gun.

The fatal shooting of Kizzee sparked a week of intense demonstrations targeting the South L.A. Sheriff’s Deputy station. Over 30 people were arrested and dozens of protesters and journalists were tear gassed and hit with less-lethal munitions.

On September 27, the family of Dijon Kizzee and community members came together to honor Kizzee, Andres Guardado, Anthony McClain, Ryan Twyman and other victims of police violence. Hundreds of people marched to the South L.A. Sheriff’s Station where they were met by deputies in riot gear. “The sheriff the other day tried to criminalize Westmont, tried to criminalize Dijon by saying that this area was gang territory, that there was gang warfare here.” Ernesto, a lifelong resident of South Central and community organizer, reflected on a press conference held by the Sheriff’s Department earlier in the week. “Anyone who lives in South Central understands that we don’t fear gang bangers, we fear the police” (Lexis-Olivier 1).

The family of a man who was fatally shot by Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies last summer is seeking $35 million in damages from the county.

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Kizzee's family filed a legal claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, Wednesday against Los Angeles County. The sheriff's department said Thursday that detectives are still investigating the case and declined further comment, citing the pending litigation.

Kizzee's family says the deputies' response was excessive and unnecessary.

"He was no animal," his aunt Fletcher Fair said during an online news conference Thursday. "He didn't deserve to die like that and be alone like that."

The family is being represented by civil rights attorneys Ben Crump, Carl Douglas and Dale Galipo. The lawsuit alleges the deputies involved in the shooting were poorly trained, had no reason to stop Kizzee in the first place and that Kizzee was not a threat to the deputies.

"Why all of the shots and why multiple shots when he's unarmed laying on the ground?," attorney Galipo asked during the news conference. "Is that really necessary? Is that what we want our children to see?"

The L.A. County coroner says Kizzee was shot 16 times, with five of the wounds on his back. Meanwhile, the family says an independent autopsy found Kizzee suffocated when his lungs filled with blood. They blame the deputies for not immediately rendering aid to Kizzee and instead retrieving a shield from a patrol car before trying to help him.

"While Mr. Kizzee's lungs were filling up with blood, they approached him like he was some sort of an animal holding a machine gun and pointing it at them," said Douglas (Hayes 1).

[See the shooting by pasting the following on Google. Then click the “Streets Blog LA” website and scroll half way down the page to gain access to the video]

https://la.streetsblog.org/2020/09/18/gun-visible-sliding-along-ground-before-2nd-deputy-opens-fire-on-dijon-kizzee-contradicting-new-sheriff-account/

LASD is the largest county police agency in the country and has a long history of brutality scandals, controversial killings, racial profiling and corruption cases. Activists and some local lawmakers have been particularly alarmed at the continued high rate of killings this summer during the pandemic and amid national protests against police brutality.

Sheriff’s deputies have fatally shot at least eight people since the end of May, including Andrés Guardado, an 18-year-old security guard who was fleeing and shot five times in the back, and Michael Thomas, a 61-year-old grandfather who was unarmed and killed inside his home. In one case, deputies killed a man who they said was “walking on the sidewalk”, who they ended up taking to the ground after they saw he had a firearm. In another case, LASD killed a 38-year-old who had reportedly been hit by a train and allegedly approached officers with a knife.

This week, LASD also faced a lawsuit from the family of Eric Briceno, a 39-year-old with a history of mental illness who died after a violent police encounter in March. After his parents called police due to an altercation with their son, deputies entered Briceno’s room as he slept and then beat and shocked him and compressed his neck, according to the family and an autopsy report.

“We called them to come and help us, to get some help,” his mother, Blanca Briceno, told the Los Angeles Times. “And instead, they came and killed him, brutally killed him.”

She said the deputies attacked Briceno without provocation, beating him, using a baton, pepper spray and a Taser, and kneeling on his back. Briceno cried out that he couldn’t breathe, the family’s wrongful death claim alleged.

His mother said she pleaded for deputies to stop and when she took out her phone to record the scene, a deputy took it away and she was pushed out of the room.

The autopsy report said Briceno was shocked with a Taser seven or eight times. It concluded he died of cardiopulmonary arrest resulting from neck compression and restraint with a Taser, the LA Times reported.

The family has called for the deputies to face criminal charges. LASD has declined to comment on the legal claim, citing an ongoing investigation (Levin 2-3).

Works cited:

Associated Press. “New Video Shows Fatal Police Shooting of Black Man in LA.” AP, September 3, 2020. Net. https://www.snopes.com/ap/2020/09/02/new-video-shows-fatal-police-shooting-of-black-man-in-la/

Hayes, Rob. “Dijon Kizzee Case: Family of Man Fatally Shot by Deputies Seeks $35M in Damages from LA County.” ABC7, February 12, 2021. Net. https://abc7.com/dijon-kizzee-protests-deputies-trainee/10331666/

Levin, Sam. “Dijon Kizzee Wasn't Holding Gun When LA Deputies Shot Him 15 Times, Family Attorneys Say.” The Guardian, September 23, 2020. Net. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/23/dijon-kizzee-los-angeles-sheriffs-department-shooting

Lexis-Olivier, Ray. “Breaking: Official Autopsy Report Confirms that Dijon Kizzee Was Shot from Behind Multiple Times by Sheriffs.” LA Taco, October 2, 2020. Net. https://www.lataco.com/dijon-kizzee-autopsy/

Moon, Sarah. “Independent Autopsy Shows Dijon Kizzee Was Struck 15 Times by LA Sheriff's Deputies, According to Family Attorneys.” CNN, updated September 23, 2020. Net. https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/22/us/private-autopsy-report-police-shooting-dijon-kizzee/index.html