A white former police officer charged within the deadly taking pictures of a Black man at a Texas fuel station two years in the past was acquitted of homicide Thursday, the officer’s lawyer stated.
Robert L. Rogers, a lawyer for Shaun Lucas, 24, stated he was relieved the jury “was in a position to comply with the legislation and put themselves in my shopper’s footwear” when he fatally shot Jonathan Worth on Oct. 3, 2020, at a fuel station in Wolfe Metropolis.
Certainly one of Worth’s sisters, Sabrina Worth, wept after the decision was introduced Thursday afternoon, NBC Dallas-Fort Price reported.
“There was not one person who seemed like me,” stated Sabrina Worth, who’s Black, referring to the jury, in keeping with the station.
On the time of the taking pictures, Lucas was certainly one of six white law enforcement officials within the small metropolis northeast of Dallas, state information present.
Worth, a former faculty soccer participant, was leaving a comfort retailer on the similar time an individual getting into the store “initiated a pushing match,” household lawyer Lee Merritt instructed the station. “Pushing match was over in 5 seconds.”
Worth was unarmed, Merritt stated.
Lucas had been dispatched to the fuel station over a potential battle in progress, Lt. Lonny Haschel of the Texas Division of Public Security stated in an announcement.
Lucas tried to detain Worth, who “resisted in a non-threatening posture” and walked away, Haschel stated. He used a Taser, then fired his service weapon — actions Haschel described as “not objectively cheap.”
Lucas, a former jail worker who had been with the Wolfe Metropolis Police Division for lower than six months, was arrested two days after the taking pictures and booked on suspicion of homicide. The Texas Rangers have been investigating the taking pictures.
On Oct. 8, 2020, Lucas was fired over what native officers known as his “egregious violation” of departmental insurance policies.
Rogers has beforehand stated that Lucas “solely discharged his weapon in accordance with Texas legislation when he was confronted with an aggressive assailant who was trying to take his Taser.”
Merritt described the proof Thursday as “overwhelming in favor of responsible” and attributed the decision to an “inherent bias” towards legislation enforcement, NBC Dallas Fort-Price reported.
Janelle Griffith contributed.
