The Las Animas County Sheriff’s office announced on Monday that two Colorado sheriff’s deputies had been fired after an inquiry determined that their repeated use of Tasers over a man, including injuring him in the lower lip, was not justified.
According to the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office, Deputy Mikhail Noel and Lt. Henry Trujillo broke numerous agency rules, including improperly using a Taser on Kenneth Espinoza while he was in handcuffs and misreporting what transpired.
The acts of Noel and Trujillo during the traffic stop, according to the investigators, escalated the use of physical force, bodily harm, and false arrest. They also suggested that the case be forwarded for a criminal investigation. If a criminal inquiry has been opened, it is unknown.
Attorney Kevin Mehr, who is defending Espinoza in legal actions against the deputies and the sheriff’s office, stated that the existence of excessive and unconstitutional force was so obvious in this case that there could only be one result. I’ve never seen anything more absurd than this.
In light of Espinoza’s lawsuit, the sheriff’s office confirmed that Noel & Trujillo were fired on August 25 but refrained from making any other comments.
Noel and Trujillo’s phone numbers weren’t immediately available. On Monday, a message requesting a response was left for their lawyer, David Goddard.
The investigation started on November 29, 2022, when Espinoza’s son was stopped for a traffic violation while his father was following behind. Espinoza was told to leave by Trujillo and Noel when he stopped in the middle of the road to help his son.
Espinoza originally refused, and when the officers gave him the order to stay, he turned to leave in his car. According to the report, Noel aimed his gun at Espinoza after Espinoza allegedly attempted to hit him with his truck. According to the report, Espinoza was handcuffed, informed that he was being arrested, brought to the patrol cruiser, and zapped with a Taser.
Noel and Trujillo said that Noel was difficult, put up a fight, and kicked the deputies in an effort to hurt them.
Espinoza did not attempt to hit Noel with his truck, according to the investigation, and “at no time does Mr. Espinoza actively employ any force over Lt. Trujillo or Dep. Noel,” according to an Aug. 10 letter from Undersheriff Reynaldo Santistevan to the Las Animas County Sheriff. After seeing the body camera footage & the investigative report, he suggested that both deputies be terminated.
Santistevan continued, “Neither tried to de-escalate this matter at any point, but only made it worse.”
Santistevan claimed that when he first read the deputy use-of-force reports, he merely looked for grammatical and typographical issues. He initially skipped over the body camera footage.
“In hindsight, I now see this was wrong & should have examined all documents and seen all body camera videos prior approving this use of force,” he wrote.
An unidentified local police officer who was questioned as part of the investigation claimed there had been “numerous” calls in the past complaining about Trujillo’s behavior and that the district attorney’s office had received the reports, but nothing had been done.
Espinoza is bringing a lawsuit against the Las Animas County Sheriff’s Office for failing to punish and train its staff.