The Texas Department of Public Safety late Friday quietly released body camera and security footage from a case in which federal immigration officers in South Padre Island last year shot and killed a 23-year-old San Antonio man. The video shows him driving slowly past officers stopping traffic, and at times interacting with them while his brake lights are on, before gunshots suddenly ring out.
The clips, which were reviewed by The Texas Tribune, do not show Ruben Ray Martinez hitting the Department of Homeland Security Investigations agent with his car, as the agency has repeatedly claimed. But they also do not provide clear evidence that he did not. The footage is from multiple vantage points and doesn’t show everything – in some cases, key audio is missing. The federal agent in question was not wearing a body camera.
