A Colorado Latino man announced a lawsuit Tuesday accusing the Las Animas County Sheriff's Office of violating his civil rights by excessive force after police camera footage was revealed on April 24 showing two officers using a police officer against him. electric taser on several occasions during a routine traffic control.
The incident occurred on November 29, 2022 when Kenneth Espinoza and his son, Nathaniel Espinoza, were traveling in different cars on a highway in Trinidad, in southern Colorado and near the border with New Mexico.
The teen was pulled over at a routine traffic stop, according to the complaint, whereupon his father pulled over as well, which escalated into an altercation with sheriff's deputies.
Espinoza's lawyers denounced to local media that Kenneth was electrocuted 35 times to his face and body during the incident with "absolutely no justification for the actions of other agents." The law firm Mehr Law revealed to support the accusation videos of the body cameras of the two agents who intervened in the incident, one of 32 minutes and the other of 11, which seem to show an aggressive arrest of the Latino man and which went viral.
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Local authorities have denied these accusations, assuring that the taser or stun gun was only used against the man once, according to the information that comes from the agents' weapons, and further alleging that Espinoza was not hit.
Screenshot of Kenneth Espinoza at the time of being detained by the local police.
The sheriff, Derek J. Navarette, indicated in a statement that the case against Espinoza was referred to justice for investigation after the arrest, and then "an internal review was pending."
On April 24, the Prosecutor's Office informed the Sheriff's Office that the charges against the detainee had been dismissed.
“I have sought the assistance of an outside agency in reviewing the actions of my officers during this incident in November 2022,” Navarette said.
"Currently, both officers are on administrative leave pending the investigation," he added.
A traffic control that ended in violence
In the images of one of the body cameras published by the lawyers, an agent can be seen who apparently approaches Kenneth Espinoza and questions him for having stopped behind a traffic control, to which he replies that he is waiting for his son.
The policeman insists that he leave and an argument begins (which the man says he is going to record with his phone).
“You have to get out of here,” the officer tells him several times, threatening to fine him because he doesn't have permission to be detained there.
"No, I'm waiting for my son" replies Espinoza again saying that he doesn't see the problem.
Then the policeman walks away.
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Video from another officer's camera shows him apparently talking to a young man in a parked van up ahead.
He ends the conversation, and approaches Espinoza.
“You have to go,” he tells her, to which Espinoza begins to leave in his vehicle, but the officer suddenly orders her to stay and get out of the car.
“I'm not doing anything,” Espinoza protests.
In both cameras you can see how the situation apparently worsens: a policeman seems to take Espinoza's arm while telling him not to run away or resist and to put the truck in park mode.
"I already did it, friend," Espinoza replies, and then claims: "You're breaking my arm, man."
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The lawyers assure that Espinoza had already agreed to get out of the truck when they see in the images that an officer goes for the passenger seat and seems to use the taser against the man to push him out of the vehicle.
"I'm being peaceful, what's happening?" Espinoza claims.
The officers are heard making an effort to handcuff him.
“Do you think it's okay to stop at a traffic stop and not do what you're told?
Are you going to jail now?” says one of them.
Espinoza is then taken to the police vehicle where his face is seen to be bloody.
Accusations crossed with the authorities
The lawyers have indicated that the federal complaint will be filed against Las Animas County, the County Sheriff's Office, and the two police officers who were involved in what happened.
Kenneth Espinoza was charged with resisting arrest and assaulting an officer as a result of the incident, according to case records.
"Based on this being an active investigation and pending District Attorney review and filing of official charges, an internal review was pending the District Attorney's disposition of the case," the sheriff explained.
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Attorneys have indicated the charges were dismissed in December, but the sheriff said his office was informed last week, coinciding with the release of the videos.
They have also released documents that they say would show that one of the officers involved in the incident "has a long history of violence that includes multiple criminal convictions and has been subject to at least five restraining orders, two of which allege domestic violence."
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