A 22-year-old man paralyzed by an off-duty officer's
bullet is now suing the officer, police Chief Greg Allen and the city of El
Paso.
Off-duty
Officer Jorge Gonzalez allegedly shot Andres Cortez in the neck on April 1,
2010, after a minor accident on Gateway West near Yarbrough.
Cortez, who
filed a civil lawsuit in federal court, is now a quadriplegic who uses a
motorized wheelchair to get around and a ventilator to help him breathe.
According to
Cortez's lawsuit, he was driving home after visiting his sister when he became
involved in a minor crash with an SUV driven by Gonzalez.
Cortez, who
was in a right turn lane, was trying to move his car into the parking lot of a
nearby McDonald's restaurant "to avoid creating a traffic hazard"
when Gonzalez's friend Michelle Gonzalez, a fellow off-duty officer who is not
related to Jorge Gonzalez, got out of the SUV and "began beating on the
hood of Cortez's vehicle," the lawsuit states.
Jorge
Gonzalez then got out of the SUV, drew his department-issued gun, rushed to the
passenger-side window of Cortez's vehicle and fired one shot, striking Cortez
in the neck.
Last summer,
a state district court grand jury indicted Jorge Gonzalez on two counts of
aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He has pleaded not guilty, and a trial
date has yet to be set.
According to
Jorge Gonzalez's response to the lawsuit, filed in federal court by his
attorney, Duane Baker, Cortez attempted to flee the scene of the crash and
struck Michelle Gonzalez, pinned her against a rock wall, then backed up the
vehicle and stopped.
Jorge
Gonzalez took out his "off-duty weapon" and ordered Cortez to stop
and turn off the vehicle. Cortez allegedly revved the engine in response.
In an effort
to prevent further injury to Michelle Gonzalez, Jorge Gonzalez "fired one
shot at Plaintiff in the legal, justifiable defense of a third person,"
the lawsuit states.
It further
states, "Any injuries or damages Plaintiff may have received were as the
result of his own improper, illegal conduct for which this Defendant is not
responsible."
Michelle
Gonzalez was not seriously injured.
Inan
interview with the El Paso Times last year , Cortez denied the police version
of what happened that day.
"In the
news, they said I tried to run over somebody, and it's not true," Cortez
said at the time.
Since then,
Cortez and his family have declined additional interviews with the news media.
Allen is
named in the suit because he allowed Jorge Gonzalez to remain employed by the
department, despite three past instances in which Gonzalez was suspended for
misconduct.
According to
the lawsuit, in May 2007, Jorge Gonzalez was suspended for 56 hours after he
allegedly used unnecessary physical force, abused police authority and failed
to make a proper report. In the incident, Gonzalez was accused of pushing and
grabbing a juvenile in a fast-food parking lot after the boy told the officer
he didn't have any identification.
In January
2008, Jorge Gonzalez was suspended for two days after being accused of racially
profiling a black high-school basketball player he accused of being a gang
member because he was wearing blue outside Austin High School.
In June
2009, he was suspended for 80 hours after he followed a man to his business and
accused him of evading and resisting arrest.
Baker filed
a request last week seeking to have the case dismissed against Jorge Gonzalez
if the history of the officer's past suspensions are not removed from the
lawsuit, calling them "unduly prejudicial, are not not similar to the
incident the subject of this suit, are designed to do nothing but inflame the
minds of the jury against this Defendant."
In his
lawsuit, Cortez and his attorneys, Lynn Coyle and Enrique Moreno and
Austin-based Malcolm Greenstein, are asking for a jury trial and compensatory
and punitive damages.