The family of a woman who was shot and killed by police officers last month has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of San Antonio and the three San Antonio Police Department officers involved in the shooting.
The civil lawsuit claims the city violated Melissa Perez’s constitutional rights in the June 23 shooting and seeks compensation for Perez’s four children. It does not name a specific dollar amount in damages.
Perez, 46, had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was experiencing a mental health episode when she was confronted by the SAPD officers, who failed to de-escalate the situation.
The lawsuit claims the city is liable for Perez’s death due to its policies, procedures, trainings and lack of enforcement. It lists four key reasons for liability; SAPD’s policy relating to the hours during which SAPD’s Mental Health Unit takes calls and responds to mental health crises; SAPD’s failure to adequately train or discipline its officers, creating a culture of “tolerance for the improper and unconstitutional use of excessive force” as well as systemic problems in the department’s culture, training and discipline.
“The police department needs to change the way it disciplines offending officers. It needs to make sure that bad actors are not reinstated and placed back out in the public,” San Antonio-based lawyer Dan Packard said in a pre-recorded video. “The police department needs to change its response to people who have a mental illness so that they receive compassionate care, rather than a paramilitary response.”
In a statement late Friday, city attorney Andy Segovia said that the SAPD has well-established policies, procedures and training in place to preserve the constitutional rights of San Antonio residents.
SAPD moved quickly to suspend the three officers involved without pay, and they have been charged with murder in Perez’s death.
“The officers involved in this incident didn’t follow proper training, policies and procedures,” Segovia said. “We will seek a speedy resolution through the judicial system.”
On the night of the shooting, Perez began to experience a schizophrenic episode and cut the wires to her fire alarm system in delusional belief that the FBI was using the fire alarm equipment to spy on her, the lawsuit states, and that she communicated that to the San Antonio Fire Department when they arrived.
The lawsuit claims SAFD notified the police department of what Perez had communicated, including why she was destroying the fire alarm system.
The lawsuit alleges the officers knew from the “very beginning” that Perez was experiencing a mental health crisis and had several opportunities to identify the crisis because of things she told them, including that she thought the FBI was listening to her.
The lawsuit claims the SAPD officer that called for backup had time to check Perez’s history, which would have confirmed she suffered from mental illness and had previously been taken into protective custody, but didn’t, and that the department’s Mental Health Unit should have been called.
Even if the special unit was called, “they would not have responded,” the lawsuit states, due to its hours.
Normal operating hours for the unit is 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., but an additional team, which includes a mental health clinician, is on call at night to respond citywide, SAPD Assistant Chief Karen Falks told the San Antonio Report.
Sgt. Alfred Flores and officers Eleazar Alejandro and Nathaniel Villalobos — who were with the department for 14, five and two years respectively — and were released from jail after each posting $100,000 bail the day after the shooting.
The lawsuit alleges the officers did the “worst thing a police officer could do” by not de-escalating the situation and instead intruding into Perez’s apartment in full police uniform, drawing a deadly weapon and threatening to shoot her.
The law firm stated the officers’ actions were not a result of a “split-second decision,” and that there were several opportunities to cool off and consider other options.
“One reasonable option would have been to leave Ms. Perez in her apartment and to return the next day to make sure she had received proper medical attention,” the lawsuit states. “SAPD could have also attempted communication that would have de-escalated the situation. Unfortunately, neither of these options were chosen.”
The lawsuit argues Perez posed no immediate threat to the officers because she did not have a firearm and officers were able to clearly see inside the window and glass door.
“It’s about making sure police have proper training to handle people with mental illness, it’s about making sure that when we trust a police officer to carry a deadly weapon, that they will only use it when it’s absolutely necessary to protect the life of themselves or somebody else,” the lawsuit states.
SAPD’s internal affairs and homicide units are conducting investigations into the shooting, while the Civil Rights Division of the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office conducts a separate investigation.
