The East Texas police department employing an officer facing a murder charge in the shooting death of a Black man over the weekend has seven days to notify the state about changes to his employment status, according to officials.
Wolfe City police Officer Shaun Lucas was arrested Monday night and charged in the shooting death of Jonathan Price. Price was breaking up a domestic dispute at a gas station on Saturday when Lucas arrived.
At one point, Lucas deployed a Taser on Price and then eventually shot him, officials said. The Texas Department of Public Safety is investigating the shooting, but said in a statement to Fox News that the officer’s actions did not seem “objectively reasonable” and were not “justifiable force.”
WOLF TAKES AIM AT ‘FABRICATED’ COMPLAINTS, REPORTS AT CONFIRMATION HEARING
Shaun David Lucas, Wolfe City Police Department police officer
The Wolfe City Police Department and city officials did not respond to calls and emails from Fox News.
As of Tuesday, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement said Lucas was still employed with the department but that it has seven days to inform the agency of any changes to his employment status, WFAA-TV reported. Lucas, 22, graduated from the academy in March and began his employment with the department in April.
It was unclear if he has been terminated. Calls and messages to the agency from Fox News were not immediately returned.
In a statement to Fox News, Lucas’ Dallas-based attorney, Robert Rogers, maintains Price physically resisted and ignored his client’s commands during the deadly encounter.
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“Mr. Price resisted the effects of the taser and attempted to take it away from officer Lucas,” said Rogers, who represented former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger in her trial for fatally shooting a Black man in his own apartment. “Officer Lucas only discharged his weapon in accordance w/ Texas law when he was confronted with an aggressive assailant who was attempting to take his taser.”