A white American police officer was charged last week with the “premeditated murder” of a young black man after he was called to report a beer theft.
Officer Brad Lunsford was formally charged on October 3 with the August 2, 2022 murder of Presley Eze on the grounds of a gas station in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
According to the facts reported by Attorney General Raúl Torrez, Agent Lunsford and one of his colleagues went to the scene shortly after a 911 call to report the theft of a beer.
The two officers began questioning Presley Eze, who was sitting in a car, about what was happening at the business. The officers decided to forcibly remove him from his vehicle and immobilize him on the ground, causing a mass panic between the three protagonists.
“During the scuffle, Eze got his hands on the second officer’s Taser, even though it wasn’t deployed. “In response, Officer Lunsford drew his service weapon and shot Eze at close range in the back of the head on the left side,” the prosecutor described.
“Unjustified”
“The death of Presley Eze is a tragedy and another example of poor police tactics that lead to unjustified use of force to subdue a person who resists arrest after committing a minor crime,” condemned Raúl Torrez.
After this incident in August 2022, former police chief Miguel Dominguez claimed that Presley Eze overpowered the police officers before one of them opened fire. Presley Eze’s family has since filed a lawsuit against the city of Las Cruces.
Several incidents in which white police officers used violence against black suspects have shocked the United States in recent years, particularly in the case of the death of George Floyd, who suffocated under the knee of police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis in 2020.