Texas man wrongly shot four times by police will get millions in settlement

A Texas man who was wrongly shot multiple times by police last year will get nearly $3 million after he underwent multiple surgeries, according to court records and media reports.

Richard Salazar, of Corpus Christi, sought $12.5 million in damages due to the physical and emotional injuries, distress and shock the March 2019 incident caused him, the Corpus Christi Caller Times reported.

Corpus Christi Police were searching for a robbery suspect when they came across Salazar, who matched the description of a suspect, police Chief Mike Markle said during a news conference after the shooting. Salazar was asked to show his hands “and for whatever reason, he was not compliant,” Markle said.

“When he did produce his hands, he had an article in his hands that was mistaken for a weapon,” Markle said. “It turned out to be a big lighter of some sorts, a pistol grip lighter.”

Shots were fired, leaving Salazar with non-life threatening injuries, Markle said. Salazar turned out to not be one of the suspects, police said.

His mother, Laura Salazar, told Corpus Christi News Now it would never ”cross [her] mind that an officer would shoot” her son. She said she had to tell Richard that police thought he robbed a store. Prior to his encounter with police, Salazar was waiting for his mom to bring him chicken wings, the news site said.

Salazar, 23, was shot in the stomach, with that bullet lodging in his spine, according to the Caller Times. He was also shot in the hand and armpit, while another bullet grazed his neck, the newspaper reported.

Salazar had multiple surgeries, including a recent one “to remove the hernia the size of a basketball,” his attorney told KIII-TV.

“They hit him four out of nine shots. I mean, at some point you should stop, you know?” attorney Rene Rodriguez said.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of Salazar was against the city and the two officers involved, Gilbert Cantu and Jacqueline DeLeon. Salazar said the officers acted with “excessive/unnecessary use of force,” according to the lawsuit.

“It was objectively unreasonable” for Cantu and DeLeon to shoot at Salazar because he was not breaking any laws, was not involved in any criminal activity and did not pose an immediate threat to the officers, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit also alleges the officers were not properly trained. The city has a ‘turn a blind eye’ approach to the use of excessive force, Salazar claims in the lawsuit.

Neither of the officers had body cameras, KRIS-TV reported. Cantu was later revealed to be the officer who shot his weapon. He was also involved in a fatal 2018 shooting but remained on duty, according to the Caller Times.

“They put him back on the street fairly quickly, and in this case, they did the same thing,” Salazar’s attorney told KIII-TV. “What they should have done was mental health treatment. They need to see their doctors.”

The local grand jury chose not to seek an indictment against the officers involved in Salazar’s shooting.

“No justice, you lose faith in the justice system, you lose faith in cops doing their job,” Salazar’s brother-in-law, Sean Garza, told KRIS-TV after the jury decision.

Of the $2.9 million Salazar was awarded, $428,000 came from the city.