Justice of the Peace orders autopsy following man’s death in Port Arthur involving police response

Published 12:27 pm Thursday, February 23, 2023

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An autopsy has been ordered for a Port Arthur man who died following an altercation Thursday morning involving Port Arthur Police Department officers.

UPDATED COVERAGE: PAPD sheds light on fatal Thursday encounter, describe response call as “family disturbance.”

Justice of the Peace Joseph Guillory II said he was contacted by The Medical Center of Southeast Texas about a man who had died prior to him receiving the phone call at approximately 7:30 a.m.

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Guillory ordered an autopsy to determine the cause of the 29-year-old man’s death.

Guillory was also notified of the death by PAPD.

The exact nature of the altercation in which the man died is under investigation.

Crime scene investigators were in Port Arthur Thursday morning working the scene of a fatal altercation. (Mary Meaux/The News)

The Texas Rangers, who are part of the Texas Department of Public Safety, were asked by Port Arthur Police to investigate the use-of-force incident, according to information from DPS.

Once the investigation is completed it will be submitted to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office.

The incident occurred in the 800 block of San Jacinto Avenue on Thursday.

Several people who live on San Jacinto Avenue watched as Port Arthur Police Department officers, PAPD Crime Scene Unit and a Texas Ranger spoke to each other in the middle of the roadway Thursday morning.

One man told Port Arthur Newsmedia his relative who was now at work might have heard something when the incident occurred but he did not.

This was the response of six other people on the block.

A trio of people — a man and two women — said they were all asleep when the incident occurred and did not hear anything but saw the police when they awoke.