City of El Paso reaches $600K settlement following death of man tased by police in 2015

Daniel Ramirez's mother called 911 on June 23, 2015, to get help for her son who was threatening to kill himself, according to the lawsuit.


Daniel Ramirez.
(Credit: Coyle & Benoit)

KFOX14/CBS4
by Fallon Fischer
Fri, June 23, 2023, 2:08 PM GMT-7

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — The City of El Paso agreed to a $600,000 settlement with the family of a man who was tased by an El Paso police officer during a mental health crisis and died in 2015.

The lawsuit states that Officer Ruben Escajeda Jr. entered the backyard where Ramirez was attempting to hang himself.

Escajeda reportedly tased Ramirez and he later died.

I visit my son’s grave every day. On this Friday, it will be eight years since he was killed. My grief is the same. We called the police to help my son, instead the officer killed him. I still don’t understand why. I also don’t understand why the Department covered for this officer rather than hold him accountable," said Ramirez's father.

In 2021, District Court Judge Guaderrama found the Ramirez family had enough evidence for a jury to find that Escajeda violated Ramirez's civil rights when he tased him causing his death. Guaderrama also found sufficient evidence for a jury to find that the City of El Paso’s policies and practices were the moving force in Escajeda’s use of excessive force, according to a release from the family's attorneys.

The policies and practices include:

1. A use of force policy that was unconstitutional on its face - authorizing force when it was not legal
2. A failure to implement specialized mental health units;
3. A failure to properly train officers on how to engage with persons suffering a mental health crisis and
4. A failure to discipline officers engaged in excessive force.

Escajeda testified after the fact that he thought dispatch said that Ramirez had a weapon and that this justified his use of the taser. However, no officer heard that Danny had a weapon and the recording itself shows the dispatcher mentioned a rope – not a weapon – at least three times, according to the lawsuit.

Former El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen review the evidence and found that Escajeda acted according to department policy when he tased Ramirez even though Ramirez posed no threat to the officer or anyone else. The Department also did not discipline Escajeda for the incident, the lawsuit stated.

The City of El Paso in March reached a $1.2 million settlement in a separate lawsuit over the death of Erik Salas-Sanchez who was shot dead on April 29, 2015, by El Paso police officer Mando Kenneth Gomez.

The law office of Coyle & Benoit represented the families of Ramirez and Salas-Sanchez in both cases.

Attorneys for the family believe the lawsuits led the police department to implement change.

The Ramirez family’s bravery to file this suit directly impacted how the El Paso Police Department operates. The Department implemented several changes almost immediately after this suit and the Salas Sanchez lawsuit were filed in the spring and summer of 2017. Almost immediately after they were filed, the Police Department chose to increase some civilian participation in the disciplinary process, correct the use of force policy, and create specialized mental health units to respond to calls. However, the City still has a long way to correct the Department’s deficiencies – particularly when it comes to response to calls involving mental health crises," said Attorney Christopher Benoit.

The city of El Paso released the following statement:

The City has spent a significant amount of time and resources defending itself and Officer Escajeda regarding the allegations made by Mr. Daniel Ramirez’s family, as a result of his death. On two occasions, during the course of this lawsuit, the City participated in settlement discussions with the Ramirez family and their lawyers,” said City Attorney Karla Nieman. “As a result of those negotiations, it became apparent that it was in everyone’s best interest to settle the case to allow those involved the opportunity to move forward and begin to heal. The settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing by the City, its Police Department, nor Officer Escajeda—who was dismissed from the lawsuit by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which found no wrongdoing by the officer. While we believe the City could prevail at trial, the settlement represented a financial consideration made in the best interests of the taxpayers and community.

Attorney Lynn Coyle called on the city, the police department and its future chief to make changes to better serve the community

“The Ramirez family’s goal has been to bring these issues to light and prevent other families from suffering the way they have. Our City’s leaders have an opportunity to hire a new Police Chief that will change the culture in the department to better protect our community and our officers. We hope they seize that opportunity to make this long overdue and very necessary change," said Coyle.

Lynn said she would like to see the police department increase training on how police respond to people suffering mental health crises and hold officers accountable if they exceed their authority.

“If the leadership is not recognizing the need for more robust training, for more robust disciplinary process, then it’s not going to happen. So, I think the first thing to be solved is getting leadership in the department that recognizes the need and then starts implementing those changes,” Lynn said.

Lynn added that she would like to see the community be involved in the selection of a new police chief.

Chief Allen died on Jan. 17 and Interim Police Chief Peter Pacillas has been leading the department since.

We reached out to the city of El Paso and the police department for comment on the settlement.

We are also working to learn if Escajeda is still employed by the police department.

Attorneys Christopher Benoit and Lynn Coyle spoke about the settlement in an interview that can be viewed below.