Man accuses Las Animas County Sheriff Deputies of excessive force; Body-cam footage released

LAS ANIMAS COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- An investigation is underway into an arrest made by the Las Animas County Sheriff's Office.

According to Kenneth Espinoza's lawyer, he was driving behind his son in Trinidad in November of 2022, when his son got pulled over by Dep. Mikhail Noel. Espinoza also stopped - and that's when things escalated.

Lt. Henry Trujillo is seen on body-worn camera footage questioning why Espinoza was still there, saying they don't like when people pull up behind them and that they get "paid to pull people over" and told Espinoza that he "needs to leave now or get charged, it's that easy."

Trujillo is heard telling Espinoza he has five seconds to leave and that he "needs to go" before saying "fine" and walking away.

When Trujillo walks away, Noel walks up to Espinoza and tells him to "leave, leave." However, as Espinoza begins driving away, Noel begins screaming "Stay, stay," and tries to open the driver's side door of the moving truck.

Noel then pulls out his service pistol and points it at Espinoza's face. Espinoza begins to back up, saying he's trying to move off the road while Noel and Trujillo point their weapons at his face - screaming at him to get "out of the [explicit] car."

Trujillo is heard saying Espinoza is on a traffic stop and tried driving away. He continues telling Espinoza to put it in park or he's "going to get lit up." Someone is heard telling Espinoza's son that if he listened he "wouldn't get manhandled."

While trying to get Espinoza in the back of a cruiser, the struggle continues. One deputy threatens to tase him if he doesn't get in the car and Espinoza said "I am." That's when his lawyer Espinoza was tased.

Noel then is heard telling another deputy at the scene that Espinoza "punches the car" while he was holding on.

He then tells Trujillo his "hand got squeezed" when trying to grab the door. Trujillo said they'd charge Espinoza for that too.

Noel then goes on to tell another deputy that witnesses saw Espinoza "try to run" him "over with the truck."

Espinoza's lawyer said he was tased 35 times during the incident and said there was "absolutely no justification for any other deputies' actions."

“Kenneth Espinoza is lucky to be alive. These officers threw him to the ground, slammed his leg in the door of a police cruiser, violated his most basic rights, and repeatedly tased him in the body and face while his son watched helplessly,” Mehr said. “And after it was all over they charged him with crimes they knew he didn’t commit and failed to report it to the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.”

Espinoza was charged with resisting arrest and assault on a peace officer, but all of those charges were dismissed.

According to his lawyer, Colorado law requires officers to report any discharge of their service weapons, including tasers to the Colorado Attorney General's office for review. This incident was allegedly never reported.

The Las Animas County Sheriff's Office refutes the claims levied by Espinoza and his lawyer. The department claims Espinoza was only tased once and was never hit by deputies.

Regarding the events that occurred on November 29, 2022, this case was sent to the 3rd Judicial District Attorney's Office for filing of criminal charges against Mr. Kenneth Espinoza after his arrest. Based on this being an active investigation and waiting upon the District Attorney's review and filing of official charges, an internal review was pending the District Attorney's disposition of the case. Today, April 24, 2023, I was officially advised by the District Attorney that no charges were filed against Mr. Espinoza, and the case was dismissed. The District Attorney acknowledges that there was a delay in informing our office of his decision not to file charges in this matter. As a result, this will refer back administratively to our office for review. I will seek the assistance of an outside agency to review the actions of my deputies during this incident in November of 2022.

Currently both deputies are still on active duty.

Lt. Trujillo has been employed since 9/1/2017, Deputy Noel since 4/1/2020.

In response to some of the issues brought forth by Mr. Espinoza's Attorney in the press release:

1) Mr. Espinoza was tased one time. This was confirmed by the data obtained from the tasers

of L.t Trujillo and Deputy Noel. Deputy Noel's taser was never discharged on Mr. Espinoza. This is confirmed by the data obtained from his taser.

2) Mr. Espinoza was not struck by either deputy at any time.

3) Lt. Trujillo never un-holstered his sidearm at any time. He only raised his taser. Sheriff's Office Phone (719) 846-2211 Fax(719) 846-0171 Detention Phone (719) 846-6453 Fax (719)846-1504

Las Animas County Sheriff's Office

Watch the body-worn camera footage of Lt. Trujillo and Dep. Noel below.

The videos might be hard to watch for some viewers.