Grand jury takes no action against La Marque officer in deadly shooting of Joshua Feast
RAW: Presser on La Marque officer cleared in Joshua Feast deadly shooting
Galveston County Criminal District Attorney speaks after a grand jury cleared Sgt. Jose Santos in the deadly shooting of 22-year-old Joshua Feast.
LA MARQUE, Texas - A Galveston County grand jury has cleared a La Marque police officer in the death of Joshua Feast, according to the Galveston County Criminal District Attorney.
After being presented all the evidence in the investigation and deliberating, the grand jury decided no action should be taken against Sgt. Jose Santos for the deadly shooting of Feast.
The shooting took place in the 1000 block of Pirtle Street around 11:15 p.m. the night of Dec. 9, 2020.
MORE: Man dies after officer-involved shooting in La Marque
Officer Santos, who had been with the department since 2014, went to arrest Feast, 22, who was a person of interest in a series of shootings and had two outstanding felony warrants for being a felon in possession of a firearm and evading arrest.
Santos spotted Feast leaning into the passenger side of a vehicle and that's when the body cam video first records Feast.
Body camera video shows what happened to Joshua Feast
FOX 26's Damali Keith has more after body camera video was released following the deadly shooting of Joshua Feast by a La Marque police officer.
RELATED: Family, witnesses react to La Marque police shooting that left man dead
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In the video, you see him run away and drop something. That's when Feast is shot just outside a relative's house.
There was a gun recovered at the scene.
Feast left behind a five-year-old daughter and three-year-old son.
Attorney Ben Crump, who represented Feast's family, released the following statement on the grand jury's decision:
"The decision by the grand jury to not indict Officer Jose Santos for the murder of Joshua Feast is a devastating one for the Feast family and the community of Galveston County as a whole. Santos had a documented history of brutality. Video from 2013 shows Santos and his colleagues assaulting another young Black man – beating him and holding his head under water as their victim cried, "I can’t breathe." It is a disturbing failure of the La Marque Police Department that Santos was allowed to join their ranks.
"Once again, we are left with more questions than answers. We have learned the prosecution failed to call key eyewitnesses to testify before the grand jury, so how can the grand jury make a just decision without hearing all of the evidence? Why was Santos ever permitted to wear a badge? Why did he shoot Joshua Feast in the back? Why did he refuse to render aid to Josh as he lay bleeding out? Why did he stop others from helping his victim? The community and family deserve answers and Josh deserves justice.
"Finally, we take note of LaMarque City officials’ orchestrated and pre-planned video calling for unity and peace just minutes after the release of the grand jury’s decision while their heartbroken and angry community is reeling. In response we offer this: the quickest, most unifying path to peace is to provide justice for Joshua Feast."
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