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February 15, 2011
Judge: Lawsuit in lewdness sting shooting may proceed to trial
A federal judge has ruled that a lawsuit filed by a man shot by Austin park police during a public lewdness sting in 2007 may proceed to trial.
U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks ruled last week that a jury should decide whether Officer David Rodriguez used excessive force and committed assault when he shot Travis J. Casey in the hand at Walnut Creek Metropolitan Park.
In ruling on the city’s motion for summary judgment, Sparks did dismiss Casey’s claims against the City of Austin. Casey had charged that the city has engaged in a pattern and practice of excessive force and has failed to train, investigate and discipline its officers.
The park police, which has since been absorbed by the Austin Police Department, sent officers to the park at about 5:30 a.m. on April 30, 2007 in response to public complaints that people were regularly having sex in cars and restrooms there, according to court documents.
David Charles Becker, then a park police sergeant, followed a man into a wooded area and began speaking to him. In an affidavit filed in the lawsuit Becker said the man identified himself as “Travis,” “exposed his genitals while performing a sexual act and grabbed my genitals.”
After Becker identified himself as “police” the man said “I’m not going go jail,” shoved Becker down and ran away,” Becker’s affidavit said.
After searching for the man for about an hour, it began to rain and officers suspended the search, went to breakfast and returned at about 9 a.m., Becker wrote.
Casey denies that he met anyone in the woods at the park. He claimed in a deposition that he had been hiking in the park that morning when upon returning to his car in the parking lot he saw two men looking “like hippies” who began running at him, behaving aggressively and yelling at him to stop.
Casey said he did not know the men were police officers and he ran to his car and locked the door. As one of them began banging on the window of his car and another stood in front of the car with a handgun Casey slowly backed up, he said in his deposition.
“I was afraid I would get mugged or something,” Casey said in the deposition.
Before he could drive away one of the men shot at him, hitting him in the hand, Casey said. He gunned the car out of the parking and continued driving until hearing police sirens on a nearby street, he said.
Rodriguez wrote in an affidavit that he and Officer Frank Corpus spotted Casey, who matched the description of the suspect, almost immediately after the operation resumed, according to an affidavit he submitted in the case.
He said he was in plain clothes but pulled his badge out from under his t-shirt and with Corpus began yelling “police, stop.”
When they further identified themselves as police and ordered Casey out of the car, Casey responded with an obscenity and locked the doors, Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said when Casey put the car in reverse Rodriguez thought that Corpus had been struck by the vehicle. Then, as Casey put the car into drive and hit the accelerator, Rodriguez jumped out the way and fired his handgun, he said.
“I managed to avoid being hit by stepping to the right side while continuing to fire, but the suspect refused to stop and instead sped away,” Rodriguez wrote. “I knew I had to fire because the car could quickly swerve and hit me if I just moved to the side without firing.”
“The driver’s side window shattered but still the suspect would not stop.”
Rodriguez said in the affidavit, which he signed in January, that it was the only time he had fired his weapon in six years as an armed peace officer.
After an internal review of the incident Austin police brass did not discipline Rodriguez, finding in a memorandum that he acted “within his scope and authority.”
Becker was demoted to the rank of corporal after a disciplinary review board found that he neglected his duties and violated the department’s pursuit policy. Sgt. Carine Chalfoun was counseled for the same violations.
Casey was arrested following the pursuit and charged with assault of a public servant and aggravated assault of a public servant, both felonies. Those charges were dismissed in June 2010, according to court records. In one case, prosecutors noted that “evidence is insufficient.” The other case was dismissed “in the interest of justice,” a prosecutor wrote.
Read Sparks’ order in the case here. Read Casey’s deposition in the case here. Read Rodriguez’s affidavit here.
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