Texas police officer charged with murder in shooting of 31-year-old Black man
Shaun Lucas, a police officer in Wolfe City, Texas, was arrested Monday and charged with the murder of Jonathan Price, a 31-year-old Black man, CNN reports.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said Lucas responded to a call about a possible fight Saturday evening and attempted to detain Price, who civil rights attorney Lee Merritt said was attempting to break up a domestic dispute in which another man was being "aggressive toward a woman." When Price "resisted in a non-threatening posture and began walking away" Lucas used his taser and then fired his gun, the department said. Price later died at a hospital.
A preliminary investigation has since determined Lucas' "actions were not (objectively) reasonable," the Texas DPS said in a statement. Subsequently, Texas Rangers booked Lucas into the Hunt County Jail.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Price's death comes on the heels of other high-profile incidents in which police officers killed Black Americans, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Rayshard Brooks. Their deaths have sparked protests against police brutality across the country. Read more at CNN.
Making sense of the week's political news, delivered every Wednesday
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.