On Thursday, the jury ruled that officers Robert Sanchez and Greg Vasquez violated Flores’ civil rights by using “excessive and unnecessary lethal force.”
The jury ordered both deputies to pay $1,435,000 each to the family in compensatory damages. In addition, Vasquez was ordered to pay $5 million in punitive damages, and Sanchez $2.5 million.
DailyExpertNews has contacted defense attorneys for the delegates for comment.
Flores also spoke to the dispatchers, asking if ambulances were coming and later saying he planned to die at the hands of the police, according to the affiliated department.
The jurors in the civil case watched the bystander’s video during the testimony, the affiliate reported. Vasquez, one of the two deputies, also took the stand, saying he was trying to de-escalate the situation, but Flores jumped at him several times with a knife and hit him with it, the affiliate said. “The situation went from bad to worse,” Vasquez said, according to the affiliated company.
“The return of this verdict by a jury of our colleagues here in Bexar County demonstrates that we will not tolerate the use of excessive force that kills our citizens.” said Thomas J. Henry, a lawyer for the Flores family, adding that without videos of the shooting, the family “might never have gotten justice.”
“I hope this is a signal to all law enforcement officers in the United States that excessive force will not be tolerated,” Henry said.