The Bell County Sheriff deputy who shot and killed a man in an attempted traffic stop back on Aug. 30 will not be indicted officials announced Wednesday.
The Texas Rangers were charged with the primary responsibility of investigating the events that led to the death of 59-year-old Lyle Patrick Blanchard.
The Bell County Grand Jury decided after review and deliberation that no indictment should be returned on the identified deputy Corporal Shane Geers.
Officials initially describe the incident as a gun battle between the two men. They say the deputy attempted to pull Blanchard over for suspected drug and alcohol impairment. Blanchard exchanged fire with the deputy while in a private drive and as a result he was shot dead by Geers. The deputy was not wounded.
However many details of the case remain unclear including if Blanchard was in fact armed, something the attorney representing the vets family says is simply not true. The attorney says what happened that day was sloppy police work and that he plans to get to the bottom of what happened in hopes to bring Blanchard's family needed closure.
"The officers knew from the moment he hit the ground dead that he was unarmed, that was never a mystery. This is a family that lost their loved one it's a family tragedy and at the very least they deserve answers and they deserve the opportunity for closure" says Robert Ranco, Carlson Law Firm Attorney.
He went on to say that the family should receive an apology from the deputy.
No word yet on if a civil lawsuit is in the works.
Geers had been with the Bell County Sheriff's department since March 2008. He started as a jailer in 2000 and went to work as a police officer in Troy in March 2007 before returning to the Bell County Sheriff's Office.
Geers was put on administrative leave after the incident in August.