Body camera video released in deadly shooting of Hays County inmate
KYLE, Texas - A year and a half after a Hays County correction officer shot and killed an inmate at a Kyle hospital, the sheriff's office released the body camera footage.
The video starts with now-former Hays County Correction Officer Isaiah Garcia watching 36-year-old Joshua Wright finish up in a patient restroom at Seton Hospital in Kyle. Wright was receiving undisclosed medical treatment there.
As Wright exits, body camera footage appears to show him assaulting Garcia while attempting to put him back in handcuffs.
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Wright makes a run for it through the hospital. Then Garcia shoots his weapon.
"Get on your stomach," said Garcia in the video. "Mr. Wright, get on your stomach now."
Wright's family and friends have pleaded to see this video for the last year and a half.
"Go ahead and release the video," said Adrian Wright, Joshua Wright’s sister in 2023. "Prove us wrong if we’re lying."
"They took something from me that can't be replaced, and I just want to know why, why, why did you do this to him," said Chris Clark, the brother of Joshua Wright in 2023.
Now, they finally have an answer.
Last week, after watching the video, District Attorney Kelly Higgins said he dropped Garcia's deadly conduct charge because of the Wright family’s request.
"They communicated their wishes to have the case dismissed after consulting with their legal representatives," said Higgins. "After subsequently viewing the body cam footage of the shooting, the family persisted in requesting the dismissal."
The sheriff's office let Garcia go when he was first indicted on deadly conduct charges.
Even though the case is dismissed, he will not be returning.
Garcia agreed to surrender his correction officer's license and not seek any future work in a related field.
A grand jury also failed to indict him on murder and manslaughter charges in 2023.
The sheriff's office said it released the body camera footage now because of his case dismissal and the end of criminal proceedings.