Officer Shaun Lucas of the Wolfe City Police Department was arrested by the Texas Rangers after he allegedly shot and killed Jonathan Price after responding to a call on Saturday about a "possible fight in progress."
A white police officer was charged with murder Monday –– two days after he allegedly fatally shot a 31-year-old Black man at a Texas gas station, according to multiple reports. Officer Shaun Lucas of the Wolfe City Police Department was arrested by the Texas Rangers after he allegedly shot and killed Jonathan Price, who was only trying to break up a fight, The New York Times reported.
According to his family and lawyer, Price noticed a man assaulting a woman inside an Exxon gas station in Wolfe City when he intervened around 8 p.m. Saturday, according to reports. When 22-year-old police officer Shaun Lucas arrived at the scene, he attempted to detain Price by allegedly "attempting to detain Price" who then "resisted in a non-life-threatening posture and began walking away," police said in a statement.
Lucas then used a Taser on Price and shot him, police said. Price was taken to Hunt Regional Hospital, where he died.
"When police arrived, I'm told, he raised his hands and attempted to explain what was going on," S. Lee Merritt, a lawyer for the Price family, said on Instagram Sunday. "Police fired tasers at him and when his body convulsed from the electrical current, they 'perceived a threat' and shot him to death."
The Wolfe City Police Department suspended Lucas after the incident and the Texas Rangers arrested him on Monday –– two days after the incident –– and charged with him murder, the Times wrote. Lucas was booked into the Hunt County, Texas jail Monday and then transferred to another facility. His bond is set to $1 million, according to the police.
The Texas Rangers said in a statement that "the preliminary investigation indicates that the actions of Officer Lucas were not objectionably (sic) reasonable and, therefore, not justifiable force."
Price was a motivational speaker and trainer, according to his lawyer. He also played college football for Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, NBC reported.
"We are grateful for this first step but it is just a first step and we want to see this all the way through to a conviction," Merritt said in a video.
“Didn't think that was the last time I would see him, he was walking out the truck, going with his friends with a smile on his face...he always smiles...now he’s gone,” Price’s mother, Marcella Louis, said. A vigil was held for Price Monday evening.
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