Texas DPS videos contradict ICE account of South Padre Island shooting

Newly released videos from the Texas Department of Public Safety show a blue Ford, identified in police footage as a Ford Fusion, was stationary or moving at a very low rate of speed with its brake lights on when Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, was fatally shot on South Padre Island, Texas. Attorneys for Martinez’s family and independent video reviewers say the imagery undercuts the Department of Homeland Security’s account of the March 15, 2025 shooting.

Attorneys Charles M. Stam and Alex Stamm, representing Martinez’s mother, said the videos make clear the car “was barely moving when he was shot,” and that he “was braking, not accelerating.” In the attorneys’ statement quoted by local reporting they added, “That nobody was on the hood of his car. That nobody was in front of his car when he was shot. That he was shot at point-blank range through his side window by an ICE agent who was in no danger.” A South Padre police officer’s body-worn camera, included in the releases, appears to capture someone saying, “Keep going,” as the vehicle moves through an intersection.

ICE and other DHS officials have maintained a different account. ICE leadership said a grand jury reviewed the case and cleared the officer; Todd Lyons, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in a statement, “We stand by the grand jury's unanimous decision that found no criminality. This incident was investigated from every possible angle by an independent body, and it cleared our officer.” ICE had publicly characterized Martinez’s actions as accelerating and striking an agent, an assertion the Texas DPS footage appears to contradict.

The newly public images join a series of recorded encounters in which video has complicated federal accounts of force. In a separate Chicago-area incident, Franklin Park body camera footage showed an agent with a scraped knee and officers describing the injury as “Nothing major,” even though agency statements initially described severe injury. Human Rights Watch has summarized the legal baseline for use of force: “law enforcement officers can only use lethal force when an individual poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or another person.”

The video evidence raises procedural and legal questions beyond the facts at the scene. ABC reporting notes DHS did not disclose agent involvement in this case until February, a timeline that is ambiguous relative to the March 2025 shooting and merits clarification. ICE cites a grand jury finding but has not publicly released the grand jury record, the dates of that proceeding, or the materials it considered. The identity and current status of the Homeland Security Investigations or ICE agent who fired have not been released in the public materials provided with the Texas DPS videos.

The Martinez footage also sharpens the broader accountability challenge. Qualified immunity and recent court rulings have narrowed avenues for civil suits against federal officers, making criminal prosecution or civil remedies difficult even where video contradicts official narratives. Public officials and courts now face a choice about how video evidence will be weighed against internal reviews and grand jury determinations.

Key unanswered items remain: the exact date and scope of the Texas DPS release, the sequence and timing of DHS public statements acknowledging federal agent involvement, whether additional camera angles or medical records exist, and which grand jury considered the matter. The videos released so far complicate ICE’s explanation of the encounter and put pressure on federal and state authorities to produce records that reconcile the divergent accounts.