All 9 shots fired at suspect protected by qualified immunity
Facts (If you are new to 1983 actions, click here for help) On April 9, 2020, around three in the morning, Laredo Police Department (LPD) Officer Karla Pruneda noticed Alejandro Estevis slumped over inside his pickup truck on the side of the road. Intending to perform a welfare check, she parked her patrol car behind […]
Plain view seizure of narcotics was proper
Facts On July 3, 2020, Landon Ates, who was a narcotics investigator with the Smith County Sheriff’s Department at the time, came in contact with Regie Dale Goodson in the middle of a public county road in Smith County. Initially, Ates had been called to the location because of a 911 call that had been […]
17 year old not entitled to have parent with him during questioning in murder case
Facts Seventeen-year-old Jaquez Davonte Porter and his friends Jarvis Jermaine Cook and sisters Willow Onedia-Louise Blackmon and Yakeshia Lashel Blackmon were together on February 24, 2020. Cook, who was driving his mother’s car, picked up Porter, and eventually, they went to the sisters’ house. There, Willow and Yakeshia, who had had a disagreement with the […]
Qualified immunity granted for officer who was tased in groin before killing subject
Facts (If you are new to 1983 actions, click here for help) Juan De La Cruz resided at the Brixton Apartments and served as a courtesy law enforcement officer for the apartments. Pamela Turner also resided there and was known to have some mental health issues that caused her to be aggressive, but no one […]
No excessive force when suicidal man pointed gun at officer
Facts (If you are new to 1983 actions, click here for help) Tracy Langiano was accused of sexually abusing two children, who were his step-granddaughters. Police began investigating the accusations, and Langiano vacated the home so that Child Protective Services would not remove the children. Langiano penned a suicide note but threw it away before […]
Totality of factors allowed stop to be extended
Facts At the hearing on the motion to suppress, the parties presented the testimony of Patrol Officer Travis Burkholder, an offense report prepared by Narcotics Detective Matthew Sedillo, both of the Midland Police Department (MPD), and Burkholder’s dashcam and bodycam footage. Burkholder had been a police officer for roughly a year and-a-half at the time […]