Las Cruces police officer Brad Lunsford has been charged with voluntary manslaughter over the shooting and killing of a Black nurse, Presley Eze, in an announcement made by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez on Tuesday. The incident took place outside a gas station back in August 2022. Read More Here.
Torrez expressed his condolences over the “tragedy” of Presley Eze’s death, describing it as another case of undue police force as a result of subpar police tactics. He commented on his duty as New Mexico’s leading law enforcement officer to hold all individuals accountable for any violations of the law, including police officers that have crossed the line.
The confrontation began when Eze was accused of leaving the gas station with an item that wasn’t paid for. The situation escalated as the officers attempted to detain him, leading to a physical altercation. When Eze made a grab for Lunsford’s taser during the scuffle, it resulted in Lunsford shooting Eze point-blank in the back of the head.
Domestic civil rights advocates, such as the NAACP President for Doña Ana County, Bobbie Green, applauded the charges. Green conveyed her gratitude to Attorney General Torrez for seeking accountability, while hope was expressed that the steps taken would provide some measure of comfort to the Eze family.
Eze’s untimely death triggered significant backlash and controversy within Las Cruces and across New Mexico. Many believe this incident highlights a wider pattern of Black people being disproportionately targeted by police officers for enforcement and violence. In response to this perceived pattern of discrimination, the Eze family initiated a lawsuit against the City of Las Cruces in May 2023.
As the problem of police brutality persists across the United States, with Black citizens being disproportionately victimized, human rights experts are calling for international institutions such as the International Criminal Court to probe into police violence against Black Americans.
The decision to charge Lunsford comes only a few months after an appellate court in Minnesota upheld the guilty verdict for Derek Chauvin, the officer involved in the killing of George Floyd which ignited the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.