What happened to Jonathan Price?

 

31-year-old Jonathan Price, a former Hardin-Simmons university football player, was shot to death by a Texas police officer, on Saturday the 3rd of October of 2020, while trying to break up a domestic dispute in a non-violent way. The Texas police officer charged with murder after killing Jonathan Price outside a convenience store shot him four times in the torso, according to the probable cause affidavit released by the Hunt County District Clerk on Wednesday. Wolfe City Police Officer Shaun Lucas said he was responding to a report of a disturbance and a possible fight in progress Saturday at approximately 8:30 p.m. at a Kwik Chek store. The entire interaction is captured on a body worn camera, and details of the video are cited in the affidavit. 

Officer Shaun Lucas was charged with murder after a preliminary investigation determined his actions were unreasonable, authorities said. Price died at a hospital, the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement. "The preliminary investigation indicates that the actions of Officer Lucas were not (objectively) reasonable," it said.  

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Attorney Robert Rogers, who is representing Lucas, said Price "did not claim to be an uninvolved, innocent party" before Lucas attempted to detain him. Price allegedly did not comply with officer Lucas who was trying to detain him, while he was helping to diffuse a domestic dispute, which had ended up outside after the man in the dispute assaulted Jonathan. "After Mr. Price refused repeated instructions and physically resisted, Officer Lucas deployed his Taser and continued to give Mr. Price instructions. Mr. Price allegedly “resisted the effects of the Taser and attempted to take it away from Officer Lucas," Rogers said in a statement Tuesday night.  

Despite Price’s innocence and non-violence in the situation, he was tasered by officer Lucas. When price went to reach for the taser, Lucas shot him four times. A preliminary autopsy report from the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office provided the cause of death: gunshot wounds.  

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Price's mother expressed relief Lucas was taken into custody, saying the news lifted her spirits, allowing her to get some sleep. "I'm glad they done got him off the street. My son didn't deserve this," Marcella Louis said just steps away from where her son was shot. "He helped everybody in his community and had a big heart and spirit. Whatever he wants to strive for, he tried to get out there and do it." 

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Price worked as a fitness trainer and in the public works department. He was known well in his area for being a kind and giving person, described by one as “a pillar of the community”. Witnesses at the scene said he was doing the right thing.  

 

Sources:  

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/08/us/jonathan-price-shooting-police-officer-fired/index.html 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/07/us/jonathan-price-police-shooting-texas-report/index.html 

 

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