Orta says Martinez "did not hit anyone"
Joshua OrtaPassenger in Martinez's car and sole surviving witness, in a draft affidavit prepared for the Martinez family's lawyers before his death
According to a draft affidavit reported by the Associated Press, Joshua Orta, the passenger and sole surviving witness, said their car was "just crawling as we were trying to turn around" and that Martinez "did not hit anyone," contradicting the account that the shooting was a response to the car striking Agent Sosa.
“just crawling as we were trying to turn around did not hit anyone This was crazy to me because we were only crawling.”
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Was HSI Special Agent Jack Stevens justified in fatally shooting Ruben Ray Martinez?
On March 15, 2025, Jack Stevens, a Homeland Security Investigations supervisory special agent, fired three shots through the driver-side window of Ruben Ray Martinez's car during a traffic stop on South Padre Island, Texas. Martinez, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen, later died. Stevens told investigators he fired after Martinez's car struck fellow agent Hector Sosa, knocking him onto the hood, and that he feared for the safety of Sosa, himself, other officers and pedestrians. Released Texas Rangers records describe the car as "slowly driving forward" when Stevens fired, and body-camera footage shows the car moving very slowly or not at all, with its brake lights on, though the footage does not show the front of the car or whether it struck Sosa. Joshua Orta, the passenger and sole surviving witness, said before his own death in a February 2026 car crash that the car was "just crawling" and that Martinez did not hit anyone. A Cameron County grand jury declined to indict Stevens on February 25, 2026, and acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said the agency stands by that finding. Reps. Greg Casar and Robert Garcia have since asked DHS's inspector general to investigate, alleging DHS concealed and misrepresented the circumstances of the shooting for nearly a year. The dispute is whether Stevens's use of deadly force was justified.
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
The Associated Press reports that Joshua Orta, the passenger in Martinez's car and sole surviving witness, said their vehicle was "just crawling as we were trying to turn around" and that Martinez did not hit anyone, and that Orta died in a car crash in San Antonio in late February 2026, days before the grand jury's decision. Attorney Stamm, representing Martinez's family, is quoted vouching for Orta's account.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Orta's account was relayed publicly by the Martinez family's attorney, Stamm, who said Orta confirmed the car was barely moving.
After the quotation
Orta died in an unrelated car crash in San Antonio days after these statements were reported.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Orta's account directly disputes the key factual premise Stevens gave for firing — that the car struck Sosa — which condemns the shooting as unjustified rather than merely disputing a characterization of it.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Jack Stevens
Corrections to this statement
These notices document reporting corrections, classification changes, and topic-label updates.
Reporting correction
Correction to: Statement by Joshua Orta
- Previous language
- He also told us unequivocally that Ruben did not hit anyone.
- Corrected language
- just crawling as we were trying to turn around did not hit anyone This was crazy to me because we were only crawling.
We showed a remark by the Martinez family's attorney, Alex Stamm, as a quotation from Joshua Orta. Stamm made it while describing Orta's account. The quotation now shows the words the Associated Press attributes to Orta himself, taken from a draft affidavit, and the summary and role line now say the account comes from that draft affidavit rather than from statements to investigators and reporters.
This corrects our account of what happened.
The Associated Press reports that Joshua Orta, the passenger in Martinez's car and sole surviving witness, said their vehicle was "just crawling as we were trying to turn around" and that Martinez did not hit anyone, and that Orta died in a car crash in San Antonio in late February 2026, days before the grand jury's decision. Attorney Stamm, representing Martinez's family, is quoted vouching for Orta's account.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)More from this case
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“These are lives that are lost, and they need to be investigated, just like any other life lost.”Read statement
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“Our community has become collateral damage in Trump’s mass deportation machine.”Read statement
Joaquin Castro calls Martinez a victim of an ICE murder
“Let us remember the names of those whom ICE has murdered. The first one was a San Antonian, Ruben Ray Martinez. There was another Texan, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo of Houston. Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero—these folks were victims of the ICE murders.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Orta says Martinez "did not hit anyone"". First published: 2026-09-22. Last updated: 2026-09-26. https://disputeindex.com/events/1407-according-to-a-draft-affidavit-reported-by-the