APPEALS COURT: SAENZ, TX. RANGERS GAVE COP A PASS

By Juan Montoya

The family of Jose Roman Rodriguez can be vindicated that Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz, the Texas Rangers and the Internal Affairs Division of the Brownsville Police were wrong in determining that police officer Rolando Trujillo Jr. did not use excessive force on a misdemeanor case July 17, 2015.

But that's not going to help their son. He is dead. He died at 24 after being shot twice – of four shots fired – in the back by Brownsville officer Rolando Trujillo Jr for the alleged theft of three cases of beer, not by him but by a passenger in his car.

Trujillo said he was horrified and feared for his life. No one asked Rodriguez how he felt. 

And there is little consolation in the family knowing that a federal judge and a federal appeals court said the conclusion reached by the Rangers, Saenz and a grand jury that was presented the facts by the DA was wrong. One can just imagine the tenor of the presentation of the Rangers and DA before the jury after they had called a press conference announcing that Trujillo's actions were justified.

 The federal appeals court dismissed Trujillo's appeal after the local federal court denied his motion for summary judgment.

In 2016, the man’s family sued Trujillo, alleging the officer used unnecessary excessive force resulting in Rodriguez's death.

“Wounded by the gunfire, Mr. Rodriguez was removed from the vehicle and handcuffed before being taken to the emergency room,” the lawsuit states. “After failed life-preserving efforts, Mr. Rodriguez died from gun shot wounds at 3:15 a.m. – slightly more than one hour after the shooting.” Trujillo, who in a voluntary video-taped statement given to the Texas Rangers, said be believed Rodriguez reached for a gray object that was a deadly weapon, was never in danger.

“Faced with no threat to his safety or to any others, Officer Trujillo made the unreasonable decision to apprehend a fleeing misdemeanor suspect with deadly force,” the lawsuit states.

In September 2015, less than two months after the fatal shooting, a Cameron County grand jury cleared Trujillo of any wrong doing, agreeing with the Texas Rangers investigation that the officer’s use of force was justified.

U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen disagreed.

The appeals court said, according to an account by the Brownsville Herald, that:

“The district court denied Trujillo’s motion as to qualified immunity, holding that genuine disputes of material fact over what happened at the traffic stop precluded summary judgment,” the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in its Nov. 28 order dismissing Trujillo’s appeal of Hanen’s order.

“The district court found that Trujillo never mentioned seeing a weapon at the time of the events in question. Trujillo only mentioned the dull gray object six days later, after he met with counsel,” the order of dismissal states. “Trujillo also gave inconsistent testimony about touching a screwdriver that was found in the car, claiming both that he did not recall whether he had touched it and that he pulled it out of the center console and put it back.”

Hanen determined that if a jury viewed the dash cam video it could reasonably arrive at either conclusions, which is why he denied Trujillo’s motion for summary judgment based on qualified immunity.

Now – years after the tragedy – the case will go forward in federal court for a jury to decide. But the family would  rather have had DA Saenz charge the officer in local courts and a jury decide on the case instead of having had to bypass the local judiciary and seek their redress from the federal courts.

The family might yet get some redress for Trujillo's actions and those of the BPD, the DA and the Texas Rangers. But it won't bring Roman back. And Trujillo is still armed, and on the job.