Questions unanswered after release of LaMarque police shooting video
A woman’s mournful screams and shouting from irate neighbors filled five minutes of body-worn camera footage from when a La Marque police officer killed a 22-year-old Black man, a shooting that his family has said was not justified.
Authorities on Monday released footage froma portion of the deadly Dec. 9 encounter between Officer Jose Santos and Joshua Feast, who was wanted on multiple felony warrants and who police said had been named a person of interest in recent shootings. Within minutes of the shooting, neighbors gathered and confronted the officer as Feast lay dying in his cousin’s driveway.
While police also released more details about the encounter, the video still left some questions unanswered. The video does not appear to clearly show when Santos opened fire and whether Feast brandished a weapon at the officer. The first 30 seconds of the video lacks audio, so the initial interaction between
the two is not heard, and neither is the gunshot.
In a statement, authorities attributed the lack of audio to the quick pace of the encounter and said it takes up to 30 seconds for Axon cameras, which Santos was wearing, to record sound fromthe point of being activated.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Feast’s family, said he believes the video corroborates his belief that Feast did not point a weapon at Santos and that the officer did not give Feast verbal commands prior to opening fire, as police have said.
“A defenseless man was shot in the back when he had not disobeyed a single lawful command and posed no threat to the officer,” Crump said in a statement.
The footage begins with Santos behind the wheel and stepping out to chase after Feast, who can be seen briefly facing the officer before bolting across the street.
Authorities contend that Santos saw Feast “abruptly turn toward” the officer while holding a handgun. While the video shows Feast briefly facing the officer, a gun does not appear to be clearly visible in the nighttime footage until a silver and black object appears discarded in the street. Santos refers to a weapon later in the video.
“At the time the round was fired, Feast was positioned with his right back side toward Officer Santos,” police said in their description of the video. “Almost immediately following the shot, the handgun that Feast was holding fell to the ground.”
What happens next in the footage is as follows:
The officer, with his gun drawn, follows Feast to a home on Pirtle Street. The audio kicks in at this time with Santos ordering him to show his hands. He finds Feast on the ground behind a car, moaning and raising his right hand in the air.
“I’m up,” Feast managed to say, while rolling onto his back and then his side.
The officer, speaking into his radio, relays the address of where he is and asks for medics to stage nearby.
“The first unit that gets here, I need you to recover the gun,” the officer said, before ordering Feast to stay on the ground and not move. “He dropped it just outside a Dodge Charger.”
Santos tells Feast to put his arms out to the side, but there was no response. He backs away.
Angry neighbors
The gunshot brought the attention of neighbors — many of whom have since argued that Santos did too little to provide Feast with medical help in the immediate aftermath.
“It’s just someone on the ground,” Santos told one neighbor who stepped outside. “He pointed at his waist band as he took off running.”
Awoman’s screams then underscore the footage. That woman can later be seen on the ground, kicking her legs in apparent grief. Another woman warns Santos that Feast appears to still be breathing.
Santos, attempting to ward off the growing crowd, urged his fellow officers to hurry up to the scene. One of the neighbors, a man, confronted Santos about firing his weapon before asking Feast to show his hands.
“I can’t get medics here until you stop,” Santos tells him, then pointing him out to another officer
“Get that guy in the white dorag,” Santos continued. “That’s the guy who’s instigating everything.”
The video concludes soon after Santos mulls whether to move medics in or to carry him out. His camera is facing Feast, who appears to be moving slightly on the ground.
“All right, let’s put him in cuffs,” Santos said.
Another officer can be seen walking toward Feast, but the footage does not show the arrival of EMS or any attempt by law enforcement to help him. Santos’ hand covers the lens for the remaining 14 seconds and he can be heard again telling medics to stage nearby because of a “large crowd.”
According to police, a second hand gun was found among Feast’s clothes in the ambulance.
In the 24 hours that followed the shooting, La Marque police drew criticism in a heated news conference for failing to release
the race of the officer — all while disclosing the race of Feast. The chief of police, Kirk Jackson, then said he had viewed the footage but declined to reveal details of what he saw.
“We know our community has questions,” Jackson said in a statement. “We are releasing information as soon as we are able while maintaining the integrity of the investigation and complying with our legal obligations. We ask for continued patience as the investigation unfolds. Our condolences, thoughts and prayers remain with the family and friends of Joshua Feast.”
Jackson has not responded to follow-up questions on why Santos delayed in rendering medical aid to Feast or whether the officer was trained to do so.
Previous shootings
The shooting has also put a spotlight on allegations of police brutality in the small Galveston County police agency.
Santos previously shot and killed a sword-wielding man in 2017 while working for the same department. A grand jury did not recommend charges against the officer, and the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office, which is also conducting an investigation into the latest shooting, declined to take action.
In that shooting, Santos fatally shot Gregory Ham during a home invasion call after being attacked with the bladed weapon.
Santos, whom authorities have identified as Hispanic, previously worked for the Galveston Police Department but stepped down following his 2013 assault of a man, an encounter that prompted a federal excessive force lawsuit and Santos’ resignation. Officials with the La Marque department have said they did not know if the lawsuit was known to them at the time of his hiring.
An independent autopsy recently concluded that Feast was shot in the back and lost more than 500 milliliters of blood, said Crump, the civil rights attorney.
The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s Office are investigating the shooting.