Fort Wayne (TX) Police on trial - Suicidal Latino Man Killed by Police

From [HERE] and [HERE] More than five years ago, Fort Wayne police forcefully entered Rudy Escobedo's downtown apartment. Within seconds, he was dead.

After years of legal proceedings, a U.S. District Court jury will decide whether the officers acted with excessive force. The two-week trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday.

Escobedo's family sued a number of Fort Wayne Police Department officers and the city of Fort Wayne. They alleged police violated Escobedo's constitutional rights by using excessive force and causing his death.

What is left for the jury to decide is whether individual officers – Fort Wayne Police Deputy Chief Martin Bender, Deputy Chief Douglas Lucker, Lt. Kevin Zelt, Sgt. Kevin Hunter, Sgt. Tim Selvia, officer Scott Straub, officer Jason Brown and officer Brian Martin – violated Escobedo's constitutional rights by acting with excessive force.

 What happened

According to court documents, Escobedo, a waiter at a local restaurant, was high on cocaine when he called 911 about 2:40 a.m. on July 19, 2005.

He asked dispatchers to call his psychologist and gave them the phone number. He told them he had no intention of harming anyone and just wanted help.

A police sergeant talked to Escobedo on the phone, and after the despondent man told him he was armed and wanted to kill himself, the sergeant called the police department's Emergency Response Team and the Crisis Response Team, which handles people who may be mentally ill or unstable.

A crisis negotiator took over the phone call and set up shop in a nearby apartment with a direct link phone system, which allowed other officers to listen to the conversation, according to court documents.

Throughout the conversation with the negotiator, Escobedo expressed only a fear of being killed by the police and despair at his struggle with addiction.

At one point, Sgt. Hunter made contact with Escobedo's psychologist but did not invite him to the scene or ask for assistance, according to court documents.

About six hours later, police decided to fire tear gas into the apartment.

But the negotiator did not think Escobedo constituted a threat to the police or the public, other than the statement he wanted to come out of his apartment with the gun, according to court documents.

While police were making plans to storm the apartment, using tear gas, the negotiator believed Escobedo was removing the barricade to the door, but the negotiator was unaware that commanders at the scene didn't get that information, according to court documents.

Bender made the decision to order officers to enter the apartment because he believed negotiations had broken down and he thought Escobedo was a threat because of "the mere fact that he was armed with a weapon and threatening to commit suicide."

He acknowledged Escobedo had not committed any crime, and Zelt stated the purpose of forcing Escobedo from his apartment was not to arrest him but to take him into custody for a 24-hour emergency mental health detention.

After multiple rounds of tear gas and "flash-bang" grenades, officers entered the apartment, according to court documents.

As officers entered, Escobedo was on the floor, with a gun in his hand, pointed upside down at himself. As he moved the gun, the officers fired, killing him.

Dismissed

In April 2010, the 7th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld District Judge Springmann's decision to rule in favor of the city and a handful of officers concerning the allegations of wrongful death.

Springmann ruled that officers acted reasonably when they entered the tear-gas filled apartment and, finding Escobedo with a deadly weapon, firing out of concern for officers' safety.

"Escobedo at this point finally did pose an immediate threat to a police officer," Springmann wrote, adding that there was not time for a reasonable officer to determine in a split-second whether Escobedo was simply moving his gun or pointing it at the officers.

In her order, Springmann dismissed the negotiator from the lawsuit, as well as the city of Fort Wayne. She also dismissed the excessive force claims against officers Martin and Brown for firing the fatal shots.

Springmann dismissed additional claims for failure to train officers properly, warrantless entry to the apartment, violating due process and wrongful death under Indiana law.

What remains

So now the jury will have to decide whether Martin acted with excessive force by firing the tear gas into the apartment, whether the raid on the apartment and the bedroom was a use of excessive force and whether the commanders – Bender, Lucker, Zelt and Hunter – are liable for the actions of the men they supervised, according to court documents.

"We're optimistic the trial system will work," said Racquel Hanic, Escobedo's sister, who is representing his estate in the lawsuit.

While the family was not surprised by Springmann's decision to throw out the wrongful death claims, Hanic said they were grateful that the judge acknowledged some excessive force issues could be decided by a jury.

"It gave us some sort of feeling that maybe someone thought something was wrong," she said, "because we thought that from the beginning."

Hanic said she's been praying a lot since the events of July 2005.

And she figures she'll continue to do so as the trial gets under way.

Escobedo's large family of siblings, grandparents and aunts and uncles are expected to attend the trial, along with his parents, Hanic said.

She said the case is not about financial compensation.

"It's always been about justice," she said.

"That's the bottom line, whatever way justice is served."