LAS ANIMAS COUNTY, Colo. — New video released Wednesday by the attorneys of a man who was hit by a Taser while handcuffed by a Las Animas County deputy shows that same deputy berating the still handcuffed man at the county detention center.
Kenneth Espinoza is suing the department over his Nov. 29 arrest, during which he was hit with a Taser in the face. On that day, his son, Nathan Espinoza, was pulled over on Main Street in Trinidad, about three hours south of Denver, for driving too close to the vehicle of Las Animas County Sheriff's Deputy Mikhail Noel.
Kenneth Espinoza was following behind in a separate vehicle because they were dropping off his truck to have work done. Kenneth Espinoza saw that his son was being pulled over and stopped on the side of the road a few feet away, where he was approached by Sheriff's Office Lt. Henry Trujillo, who had come to assist with the call.
That was when things escalated, according to body camera footage previously released by the elder Espinoza's attorney.
The body camera footage shows Trujillo asking Kenneth Espinoza why he was stopped, and Espinoza responding that he was waiting for his son. Within seconds, Kenneth Espinoza and Trujillo were exchanging obscenities and Trujillo ordered him to leave the scene.
When Kenneth Espinoza did begin to drive away, deputies ordered him to stop and one of them grabbed for the door handle of the truck. According to the lawsuit, Noel got out his gun and pointed it in Kenneth Espinoza's face.
Once Espinoza was out of his pickup, he was placed in handcuffs. Trujillo and Noel ordered Kenneth Espinoza to get in a patrol car and used a Taser on him multiple times, including at least once in the face, the body camera video shows.
Video released Wednesday shows what happened after Espinoza was brought to the Las Animas County jail by Trujillo.
“Trujillo’s not satisfied with beating Mr. Espinoza and tasing him in the face," said Espinoza’s attorney Kevin Mehr in a news release. "He wants to keep berating him threaten him with torture because Mr. Espinoza had said he was planning to file a complaint.”
> Video below shows the newly released body camera footage of Kenneth Espinoza and Las Animas County Sheriff's Lt. Henry Trujillo at the jail:
The video begins with Trujillo telling a fellow deputy, “We’re going to try to get him in here. If he acts like a f—--g idiot, he’s going in the chair.”
Trujillo is then heard saying, “I’m gonna tell you right now. If you continue to act like a jacka–, ... you’re going in the chair.”
Espinoza appears calm in the video as he's seated on a bench, still handcuffed, waiting for medics to come check him out because he was struck by the Taser.
At one point, Espinoza asks Trujillo, "Why are you being so mean?"
"I'm not being mean," Trujillo says. "I'm telling you the way it is. You had your chance, OK?"
At that point, Espinoza interrupts Trujillo and seems to say "you tased me," but is interrupted by Trujillo who puts a finger toward his face and starts yelling.
"Shut up and listen. It's not time for you to talk. It's time for you to listen," Trujillo says in the video. "Cause I'm done with your bull----. This could have all been prevented."
At another point during the video, Trujillo tells Espinoza that he doesn't even know why his son was pulled over in the first place.
"No you don't [know why he was pulled over], so shut up about it now," Trujillo says in the video. "I'm tired of listening to you. You're done talking because I don't give a sh-- what you have to say anymore. Zero."
"I can't understand why you're so mad," Espinoza says just before the medics arrive to check him out.
The lawsuit filed by Espinoza claims that Trujillo intentionally deactivated his body camera prior to transporting Espinoza, which violates state law. It also says that instead of taking him by ambulance to a hospital to be medically cleared that Trujillo took him to the jail first, which is consistent with the newly released body camera footage.
Separately, Trujillo has been charged for an off-duty incident that happened in June involving a juvenile boy. A police report for the incident shows that the teen was on motorcycle when he passed Trujillo's vehicle. The teen reported that Trujillo gave him the finger and that he stopped his motorcycle. There was then a physical confrontation between the two.
Court records show, Trujillo was charged with a petty offense of disorderly conduct - offensive gesture. It was unknown whether the teen faced charges.
According to the lawsuit, it's not the first violent incident involving Trujillo. The lawsuit claims Trujillo should not even be eligible to be a police officer in Colorado due to a harassment conviction in 1998. The lawsuit says that Trujillo left the conviction off his 2001 application and says if the department had conducted a proper background check or checked court records, he would have been flagged.
According to the lawsuit, while serving as an officer with the Trinidad Police Department, Trujillo was suspended multiple times, including one suspension for DUI and another for an uncharged domestic violence incident.
Both Noel and Trujillo were named in a separate excessive force lawsuit filed in June 2022 that involved allegations of excessive force and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Court records show it was settled in November, about two weeks before the incident involving Kenneth Espinoza.
Both had previously been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation.
After the June 18 incident involving the teen motorcyclist, Trujillo was moved to administrative without pay, according to the Sheriff's Office. There were will be an internal investigation related to that incident, but it will be delayed until after the investigation into the November incident is complete.
The Sheriff's Office provided no other comment, citing the pending litigation.
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