Texas Rangers execute search warrant to investigate former Brazoria County deputy in John Mendoza Jr.'s death
LAKE JACKSON, Texas - A search warrant affidavit is revealing new information in connection to the death of John Mendoza, Jr. in Lake Jackson last month.
Affidavit for search warrant released
What they're saying:
According to the affidavit, officials have reason to believe that former Brazoria County Deputy Kevin Tippit committed one of three possible offenses: manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, and aggravated assault by a public servant.
The affidavit stated that around 12:50 a.m. on June 1, investigators learned of an officer-involved shooting on Indian Warrior Trail in Lake Jackson involving a Brazoria County Sheriff's Office Deputy.
According to the affidavit, after reviewing Tippit's body camera, Tippit was parked on Oyster Creek Drive, north of FM 2004, and his unit was facing south.
Authorities said they observed from the dash camera video that at approximately 12:06 a.m., a red Dodge Challenger turned westbound and accelerated onto FM 2004 from Oyster Creek Drive in Richwood, Texas, in a manner that caused the rear of the vehicle to lose traction with the road, which resulted in the vehicle's rear sliding right then left before recovering.
It was further observed that Tippit reacted to the Red Dodge Challenger entering FM 2004 by driving his patrol unit behind the Red Dodge Challenger.
The affidavit stated that Tippit caught up to the Dodge Challenger on FM 2004, east of Yaupon Street in Lake Jackson. It was also seen that Tippit had not turned on his lights at this point.
The affidavit said the dash camera video showed that once Tippit caught up to the Dodge Challenger, the Red Dodge Challenger accelerated excessively beyond the posted 50 mile per hour speed limit sign, which resulted in Tippit activating his emergency lights and siren in an effort to stop the Dodge Challenger.
The dash camera video also showed that the Dodge Challenger continued to disregard Tippit, reaching speeds of 120 mile per hour.
The affidavit stated the dash camera video showed that the Red Dodge Challenger disregarded six red traffic lights before arriving on Indian Warrior Trail.
The affidavit said that body-worn camera and patrol unit's dash camera, as the Dodge Challenger pulled into the driveway, the home's 2-car garage door opened, the Challenger pulled inside the garage, and the garage door began to shut.
FULL VIDEO: Surveillance video captures Lake Jackson Officer-Involved Shooting
In video provided to FOX 26 by Attorney Charles Adams, surveillance video captures the moments before and after an officer-involved shooting in Lake Jackson that took the life of an 18-year-old.
The affidavit stated that body-worn camera video showed Tippit entered the garage through the open door and approached the driver's door of the Red Dodge Challenger.
The affidavit stated as Tippit approached the driver's door, Tippit pulled his pistol and discharged it into the passenger compartment of the vehicle through the driver's door window.
Body-worn camera video showed that Tippet opened the Dodge Challenger driver's door and learned that the driver, John Mendoza Jr., was struck by the bullet, the affidavit said.
The affidavit stated that body-worn camera video caught Tippit notifying the Brazoria County Sheriff's Office dispatch via his portable radio that he had an accidental discharge and had one male bleeding.
The affidavit said, "affiant knows through training, experience, and Deputy Tippit's firearm just going off, that Deputy Tippit was referring to his firearm going off when he reported accidental discharge."
As a result, a search warrant was requested for the firearm to determine that the firearm was properly functioning.
Custodial death report released
Dig deeper:
FOX 26 received the custodial death report for John Mendoza, Jr.
According to the report, the manner of death was ruled a homicide (includes justifiable homicide) as Mendoza's cause of death was a "gunshot wound of the left upper extremity into torso."
What's next:
Tippit was terminated by the Brazoria County Sheriff's Office a few weeks after the investigation started.
The investigation remains active.
No official charges have been filed at this time.
The Source: Court documents, previous FOX 26 reporting