The Snyder City Council voted to take no action after meeting in closed session for 10 minutes to discuss a lawsuit.
In January, Cornelio Aviles sued the city, claiming his shoulder was injured after police officers dropped him as they were attempting to arrest him for outstanding warrants.
The incident occurred January 6, 2018, according to court documents.
According to a court filing, Aviles, who claims to be paraplegic, was injured as Officers Josh Reeves and Alex Pena attempted to place him in a police vehicle to transport him to the Scurry County jail.
In the process, they dropped him on his shoulder, according to court documents filed by Aviles’ attorney.
Aviles is represented by attorney Patrick C. Simek of Lubbock.
He is seeking damages of at least $250,000.
According to a two-page statement from Reeves about the incident, Pena was dispatched to meet with Aviles in order to get information about a January 1, 2018 hit-and-run incident.
Before they arrived, Reeves was advised by Deputy Randy Romero that Aviles had outstanding warrants and he would check with jail if they’d accept Aviles. According to Reeves’ report, the jail had previously refused to accept Aviles because of his medical conditions.
When he arrived, Reeves said he advised Aviles of warrants and that Aviles said he had already made arrangements to take care of them on the following Monday.
After a discussion at the scene, Reeves’ supervisor Whitney Merket said to arrest Aviles and take him to jail.
According to Reeves’ statement there was a struggle getting Aviles out of the vehicle he was in and onto his wheelchair and again trying to get Aviles from his wheelchair into the police vehicle.
As that was happening, Aviles said he was on the phone with his pastor, Snyder Mayor Tony Wofford, according to Reeves’ statement.
Reeves wrote that Aviles purposely pushed his bottom with his arms out of the wheelchair’s seat and began “slipping” out of the chair. He wrote that he and Pena caught Aviles before he hit the ground and put him back in the chair.
After paramedics from Scurry County EMS arrived, Reeves was advised to not arrest Aviles, at which point they returned him to the original car.
The city is represented by Terry W. Rhoads, an attorney with Cotton Bledsoe Tighe and Dawson, PC, of Midland, but on Monday met with the regular attorney for the city, Bryan Guymon from the Underwood Law Firm.
A plea to jurisdiction hearing is scheduled for April 2, according to court documents.
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