Key Witness Who Disputed ICE Account of Fatal Texas Shooting Dies in Car Accident

[douglas9]

Feb. 23, 2026Updated 11:14 a.m. ET

The only passenger in the car when an American citizen was shot and killed by a federal officer in South Texas last year had planned to speak up and contradict the government’s account of the shooting. However, the passenger, Joshua Orta, died in an unrelated car crash over the weekend.

Mr. Orta, 25, was in the passenger seat on March 15, 2025, when his childhood friend, Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, was shot multiple times in South Padre Island by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer after the authorities said he failed to comply with commands to exit his vehicle.

In a written statement obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Orta said that the two men had offered no resistance to law enforcement officers and were trying to comply with commands to turn around the car when the situation got out of control and Mr. Martinez was shot.

Mr. Orta had provided his version of events in the statement, which was taken in September by lawyers representing Mr. Martinez’s family to be used for future legal proceedings. He was planning to sign the statement and cooperate with investigators hired by the family before he died Saturday in a car crash on a San Antonio highway.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/us/ice-shooting-texas-witness-dead.html

[niyad]

1. How conveeeeeeenient, as Church Lady would say. Karen Silkwood

came immediately to mind.

[mercuryblues]

2. Accident?

[Ferrets are Cool]

3. Check his cars brake lines.

[Easterncedar]

4. I wish the conspiracy notion seemed far-fetched

[Bettie]

7. Right?

It is sad that this is where we are.

[ck4829]

5. Looks like she got Karen Silkwood'd

[niyad]

14. Glad I am ot the only one who thought/posted that.

[ck4829]

15. I noticed your reply right after I did. Great minds...

[niyad]

16. yes!!!

[3Hotdogs]

6. I guess South Texas ain't got no 7 story windows.

[TheRickles]

8. Any details on what actually happened in the "accident"? It's behind an NYT paywall. Thanks.

[erronis]

9. Archived

https://archive.ph/Jls2n

[TheRickles]

10. Thanks. Here's the key bit:

Mr. Orta died in a fiery car crash at around 1 a.m. on Saturday when he lost control of the vehicle he was driving and struck a utility pole. The car caught on fire and Mr. Orta died before the three other people in the car, including a stepsister, were able to pull him out, Mr. Arriaga said. The crash over the weekend had no connection to the shooting last March.

According to a preliminary San Antonio police report, which did not name Mr. Orta, the person behind the wheel was driving “at a high rate of speed” when he attempted to exit the highway and lost control of the vehicle.

[erronis]

13. That stood out to me also. But cutting a brake line is not a sure-fire method.

[Alice Kramden]

12. Shades of Michael Hastings (who died in 2013)

Hastings was an investigative reporter whose car went "out of control" and conveniently killed him

Former U.S. National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism Richard A. Clarke said that what is known about the crash is "consistent with a car cyber attack." He was quoted as saying: "There is reason to believe that intelligence agencies for major powers—including the United States—know how to remotely seize control of a car. So if there were a cyber attack on [Hastings'] car — and I'm not saying there was, I think whoever did it would probably get away with it."

To emphasize: Hastings' death was not proven to be a cyber attack, but such things are possible, according to Clarke.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hastings_(journalist)