Saturday, May 5, 2012

Wrongful death?

This just sounds plain wrong to me.

Why wasn't he in the back of the patrol car in the first place.  Okay so the officer didn't consider the mentally-ill person to be a prisoner.

So why wasn't he put in restraints and put in the back seat after the officer was attacked the first time?

I think the jury may have screwed the pooch in this matter.

At least on the scant info the article gives us.


Jury clears ex-deputy in fatal shooting
By Guillermo Contreras - Express-News

A federal jury today found that a former Frio County sheriff's deputy did not use excessive force for fatally shooting a mentally ill man he was transporting to a psychiatric hospital.

The verdict ended a four-day trial in a lawsuit filed by the family of Andres Gutierrez, 19, against Roger Salinas, who is now an officer with the Nixon Police Department.

“I'm happy we were able to clear Officer Salinas' name,” said his lawyer, Eileen Leeds.