A former New Mexico police officer who was accused of fatally shooting a Black man at a gas station in 2022 has been convicted of voluntary manslaughter.
Brad Lunsford shot 36-year-old Presley Eze at point-blank range during a confrontation at a Las Cruces gas station in August 2022.
During his trial, prosecutors stated that Lunsford and Officer Keagan Arbogast were called to a Chevron gas station after a clerk dialed 911 and reported that Eze stole a beer and was drinking it in the parking lot with friends, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.
When the cops approached Eze, who was unarmed, they tried to physically remove him from his vehicle, but used a “poor extraction technique.” Arbogast wrapped his arms around Eze’s midsection in an attempt to take him to the ground, but the maneuver failed and Eze ended up landing on top of him.
Eze then grabbed Arbogast’s stun gun, and when Lunsford saw this, he pulled his firearm and shot Eze at “contact range” without warning, prosecutors stated.
Lunsford also made no attempt to use his other non-lethal service weapons, which the state previously asserted was “unjustifiable” and unreasonable under the circumstances when they first announced charges against the former cop.
Bodycam footage of the deadly encounter was also shown to jurors, who reached their verdict after two and a half hours of deliberation.
“Today’s verdict reaffirms a fundamental principle: no one is above the law — not even those sworn to uphold it. Officer Lunsford’s actions were not just a tragic lapse in judgment; they were an egregious abuse of power that cost Presley Eze his life,” Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a statement after the verdict was announced.
Lunsford was charged more than a year after the shooting took place and was indicted by a grand jury in December 2023. His trial lasted eight days.
He faces up to nine years in prison for the conviction.
His attorney, Jose Coronado, stated that he would ask the judge to review the verdict for its legal sufficiency.
“While I respect the jury’s verdict, I am extremely disappointed in it. I don’t believe the state met its burden,” Coronado told The Associated Press.
The verdict, which marks the latest conviction in a case involving police brutality against unarmed Black men, has drawn mixed reactions online. Some people believed that Lunsford’s use of force was reasonable. Others disagreed.
“The suspect reached for the officers tazer, how is deadly force not able to be authorized at that point….. makes no sense…..” one Facebook user wrote.
“He shot him point blank in the back of the head. Hardly justifiable. He could have been tased or otherwise subdued. Cops should be held to a higher standards because of the trust and power given to them, yet they consistently show that minorities are treated differently and excessive force is to often the norm,” someone else added.
Eze’s family contended that the deadly shooting was racially motivated and filed a lawsuit against the city of Las Cruces, arguing that “Eze presented no threat of great bodily harm to anyone when Lunsford executed him.”
The lawsuit is still pending.
