Officials released graphic dashcam video Wednesday showing a Texas officer fatally shooting an unarmed Black man after a grand jury cleared the officer of wrongdoing.
Investigators also released bodycam video that appears to lack audio in certain portions.
Galveston police officer Joshua Nino de Guzman pulled over Randy Martin on May 18 after claiming he spotted him drive out of an alley police were surveying for possible drug sales.
The cop claims he waited until Martin, 47, had run several stop signs before turning on his emergency lights and pulling him over.
The bodycam video shows the cop ordering Martin out of the car without providing a reason. Then, once he steps out, de Guzman tells Martin he wants to frisk him for firearms – even though Martin gave no indication he may have a firearm.
“What’s the problem, though? Why are you pulling me over?” Martin asks.
“You’re not stopping at stop signs,” the cop tells him. But Martin insists he stopped, and authorities have released no video showing him run a stop sign.
“Turn around, I want to make sure you don’t have a gun on you; that’s what I’m concerned about,” De Guzman says.
“I don’t got no gun on me,” Martin responds.
“Put your hands up there now before I let my dog out, and it gets bad,” the cop threatens.
Martin turns around to comply, but the cop begins shoving and pushing him and eventually punches him in the face, prompting a brief struggle where it appears Martin is trying to get back into his car.
The cop then pulls out his gun and fires eight shots, killing Martin.
Grand Jury Clears Cop
While he was shooting Martin, a woman steps out of the passenger side, and the cop points his gun at her, ordering her to keep her hands up.
Another cop arrives, and de Guzman walks to the woman sitting on the grass and handcuffs her. After more officers arrive, they handcuff Martin. Doctors later pronounce him dead at a local hospital.
The Texas Rangers, the investigative division for the Texas Department of Public Safety, took over the investigation and produced a 40-page report which one local media site obtained but did not include in its article.
Atlanta Black Star requested the report from the Department of Public Safety, the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office, and the Galveston Police Department but has not yet received a response.
Based on local media reports, de Guzman fired eight rounds, with seven striking Martin. It also says that Martin had his arm wrapped around the cop’s neck and grabbed the cop’s gun.
The video shows Martin’s arm around de Guzman’s neck in a headlock as the two were struggling. It does show his hand near the cop’s gun, but it is not clear if he was trying to grab the gun because his hand was never on the gun.
But it does show De Guzman pulling out the gun and opening fire.
De Guzman told investigators he feared Martin was reaching for a gun inside the car, but investigators found no gun there.
Earlier this month, a grand jury chose not to indict de Guzman.
Before investigators released the bodycam video, Adalberto Ruiz, the attorney representing Martin’s family, said the family might file a civil suit.
“We intend to prove that the officers’ actions were excessive, unnecessary and negligent beyond the pale of normal officer conduct and that the City of Galveston must be held accountable,” Ruiz said Thursday after the bodycam video, which is posted below, was released.
Martin’s mother, Paula Martin, said she learned of the shooting through media reports.
“No mom or parent should ever have to find out from the news media or from Facebook their child has been murdered,” she told local media after the grand jury’s decision. “You all say killed, my son was murdered.”
Watch the bodycam video below.
