The Las Animas County Sheriff’s Office will pay $1.5 million to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by a man who says he was repeatedly stunned with a Taser while handcuffed, including once in the face.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in May, prompted an investigation that also revealed the two sheriff’s deputies, Lt. Henry Trujillo and Deputy Mikhail Noel, violated several agency policies, including inappropriately using a Taser on Kenneth Espinoza in November 2022 in Trinidad while he was handcuffed, and inaccurately reporting what happened.
An attorney for Espinoza said the settlement sends a message to officers abusing their power. “If the sheriff won’t hold you accountable, we will. All eyes are now on Sheriff Navarette and his administration to see how they move forward in a way that ensures transparency,” Kevin Mehr said in a statement Monday morning referring to Sheriff Derek Navarette.
Twelve days before Espinoza was arrested, the county settled a separate federal lawsuit that accused both Trujillo and Noel of using excessive force on a deaf woman who was recovering in the hospital, according to Espinoza’s lawsuit.
Espinoza’s federal lawsuit accused both deputies of using excessive force and the sheriff’s office of failing to train and discipline its employees.
Neither the Las Animas County Sheriff’s Office nor county commissioners immediately returned a request for comment.
The lawsuit centered around events on Nov. 29, 2022, when Espinoza’s son was pulled over for a traffic stop while Espinoza was driving behind him. When Espinoza pulled over to support his son, Trujillo ordered him to leave.
After initially refusing, Espinoza then started to drive away, but Noel pointed his handgun and ordered him to stop, according to the federal lawsuit. Espinoza was handcuffed, told he was under arrest, taken to the officer’s patrol car and stunned with a Taser.
The sheriff’s office fired Noel and Trujillo in September, about four months after Espinoza’s attorneys released bodycam footage of the incident. The footage prompted an independent investigation of the incident by the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office, which recommended a criminal investigation into Noel and Trujillo and their conduct, his attorneys said.
The investigation found Espinoza never attempted to strike Noel with his truck, despite Noel and Trujillo reporting Espinoza was being uncooperative.
The investigation also revealed that Undersheriff Reynaldo Santistevan signed off on a use-of-force report without ever reviewing the body camera footage from the incident, according to Espinoza’s attorneys.
Months later, Santistevan recommended both deputies be fired in a letter to the Las Animas County Sheriff, saying that at “no time did either try to de-escalate this matter but only made it worse,” The Associated Press reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.