Colorado man paid $1.5 million after being tased by Las Animas County deputies
A warning: Some of the body camera videos above might be tough to watch.
LAS ANIMAS COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - A Southern Colorado man is getting more than $1 million as part of a use of force lawsuit.
The case is against two former Las Animas County Sheriff's deputies who tased the man during an arrest in November of 2022. Lt. Henry Trujillo, and Deputy Mikhail Noel.
Deputy-worn body camera footage shows Kenneth Espinoza being tased nearly three dozen times on his body and his face during an altercation before Espinoza's attorney alleges he was further assaulted by Las Animas County Sheriff's deputies.
In the time since the incident, a formal investigation left the two deputies without a job and led to Espinoza being awarded $1.5 million in settlement money.
"It's a lot of money, so I hope it's enough. Not necessarily from the aspect of making my client 'whole', but enough to make a change." explains Kevin Mehr, the attorney who represented Espinoza.
He says the body cam footage clearly showed the excessive force used by deputies and the confusion between the two deputies that likely caused the altercation.
Body cam footage shows Trujillo ordering Espinoza to leave the scene after he stopped his truck behind his son, who had been pulled over by the deputies in Trinidad. From there, Espinoza begins to pull away in his truck, and that's when things escalate.
Deputy Noel yelled at Espinoza to stop while running and grabbing at the door handle of the truck. He then pulls out his service pistol and points it at Espinoza's face.
From there the body cam footage shows Espinoza being tased numerous more times by the two deputies, who were physically aggressive with the man while he was handcuffed.
"That just sort of snap judgment that they made, that snap change in decision, based on nothing. That's what really jumped out at me on this case," explained Mehr.
Mehr says Trujillo and Noel had been involved in another lawsuit that had settled just 12 days prior to this incident in Trinidad, and they were both fired from the agency in September of 2023.
