Lawsuit: Texas deputies broke man’s neck, left him in ‘drunk tank’ 22 hours before calling paramedics

EDINBURG, Texas — Jorge Gonzalez Zuniga’s eye appears blackened in the mugshot. Two gloved hands reaching in from outside the camera frame hold the Hispanic man’s head in place so his photo can be taken.

In a profile shot, a massive swollen lump protrudes from the back of the 22-year-old’s neck. Below his neck, his body appears unnaturally slumped, particularly when compared to photos taken following a previous arrest in 2016, when Zuniga was 19.

According to a federal lawsuit filed last month by Zuniga’s family, Zuniga’s neck was broken in the April 12 booking photo, which was taken at the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office in Edinburg. Zuniga, who turned 23 in May, remained paralyzed from the chest down and on a ventilator for three months before his body succumbed to complications of his injuries, according to his family.

His sister, Katia Gonzalez, wrote on a GoFundMe page titled “Justice for Jorge,” that her brother spent more than a month in intensive care.

“His doctor said he should have been put in a long-term care facility,” Gonzalez wrote. “Jorge was undocumented and didn’t have insurance. He was sent home.”

The lawsuit alleges that “brutal, unreasonable and excessive force” by Hidalgo County sheriff’s deputies, coupled with “deliberate indifference” from county jail personnel, ultimately led to Zuniga’s July 15 death.

“Jorge Zuniga’s cause of death was listed as acute or chronic respiratory failure,” the civil complaint states. “Mr. Zuniga’s death was the direct consequence of the injures and the lack of medical care by these defendants.”

Named in the suit are Hidalgo County deputies Steven Farias and Marco Guerrero, as well as two unidentified deputies listed as John Does.

The Monitor in McAllen, Texas, reported in August that the Texas Rangers are investigating the Hidalgo County deputies' actions during and after Zuniga’s arrest.

“Once the investigation is complete, it will be presented to the grand jury,” Department of Public Safety spokesman Lt. Christopher Olivarez told the newspaper.

As of last week, the Monitor reported that the grand jury had decided not to indict any of the officers on manslaughter charges. The decision, which stated that grand jurors “inquired carefully” into the Rangers' investigation, was dated Aug. 20.

According to an arrest affidavit written by Farias, Zuniga was arrested for public intoxication, resisting arrest and violation of an emergency management plan after deputies went to a mobile home park in Elsa, Texas, to investigate an unrelated assault.

“While finishing up our investigation, I observed a Hispanic male wearing a pink shirt and green pants lying asleep on his back,” Farias wrote.

Several attempts to wake Zuniga were unsuccessful, the deputy said.

“Male finally woke and appeared to be highly intoxicated,” the affidavit states. “Male advised he was drinking at location with friends but was unable to find his friends. Male was walking around the mobile home park not knowing where he was going.”

Farias wrote that Zuniga was taken into custody for violating the shelter-in-place order put in place due to the coronavirus pandemic. He was also charged with public intoxication.

Zuniga “resisted arrest and was finally handcuffed and transported,” the report states.

Farias makes no mention of injuries in the affidavit.

Read the affidavit below.

The lawsuit filed by Zuniga’s family is in agreement with authorities regarding how Zuniga’s encounter with the deputies began. It states that Zuniga, the father of a 1-year-old son, had gone to the trailer park to celebrate Easter at a friend’s barbecue.

Zuniga was asleep in his friend’s yard around 2:15 a.m. when Farias and two other deputies arrived and ordered him to go home.

“Mr. Zuniga followed their commands and started to go home when the officers decided to arrest him for violating the emergency management order and public intoxication, two minor, non-violent misdemeanors,” the complaint states. “These charges were ultimately dropped and dismissed.”

The moment of arrest is where the family’s allegations veer from those of law enforcement officials.

According to the lawsuit, Zuniga was tackled to the ground, shocked multiple times with a Taser, was “pushed to the ground, had his neck crushed (and) was handcuffed and placed in ankle restraints.”

“At one point, he was intentionally tripped and when he would not get up while still fully shackled, he was tased,” the lawsuit states. “Ultimately, he was placed in the patrol car and transported directly to the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center.”

The lawsuit alleges that Zuniga was not given a medical evaluation prior to being booked, despite his “obvious injuries,” which included a “large swollen neck, cuts and contusions.”

Instead, his family says, he was thrown in the “drunk tank” and left alone for more than 21 hours.

“Finally, at or near 12:11 a.m. on April 13, some 22 hours after his arrest and 21 hours after his booking, someone at the jail checked on him. He was found to be non-responsive,” the lawsuit states.

Paramedics were called at that time to take him to the hospital. Upon their arrival, they found Zuniga to be hypothermic – his temperature upon arrival at the hospital was 82.4 degrees – and suffering from bradycardia, or a slower than normal heart rate.

Once at the hospital, Zuniga was diagnosed with a severe fracture of his cervical spine, as well as a swollen spinal cord. He was quadriplegic, the lawsuit states.

“Specifically, he was found to have: Rhabdomyolysis (the breakdown of damaged skeletal muscle); a 9 mm anterolisthesis at C5-C6 in his neck (meaning his two vertebrae have been pushed over each other); bilateral jumped facet bones in his neck; bilateral laminar fractures in his neck and paralysis from his neck down,” according to the document.

Read the lawsuit below.

Zuniga underwent two surgeries to insert plates and screws into his neck to stabilize his spine. Surgeons found that he had bruising from his skin to his spinal cord, severe spinal cord compression, swelling and a partial tear of the dura, or the membrane surrounding the spinal cord, as well as multiple broken bones.

He remained hospitalized until June 5.

“When Mr. Zuniga was released from the hospital, he was on a ventilator and was completely paralyzed from his chest down,” the lawsuit states. “His family was forced to take care of his every need.”

Gonzalez wrote on the GoFundMe page that she, her mother and her sister-in-law were at Zuniga’s side at all times.

“But we aren’t nurses, and we were so scared that one mistake could take him from us,” she wrote.

Her brother struggled with complications of his injuries, resulting in three ER visits, until July 8, when he suffered a heart attack. He died a week later.

“(Jorge) will never hold his son in his arms again,” his sister wrote. "Jorge was a hardworking man, a loving husband, father and son.

“Whenever someone was in need, he wanted to help. He enjoyed spending time with his family and barbecuing for us on the weekends.”

His family’s lawsuit argues that Farias and the two unnamed deputies violated Zuniga’s constitutional rights during and after his arrest.

“Despite Mr. Zuniga posing no risk of harm to himself or others, they initiated an arrest, and in the course of that arrest, used Tasers and physical violence sufficient to crush his neck, rendering him paralyzed,” the lawsuit states. “There was no need to use force, yet these officers collectively either directed that it be used or participated in it.”

They also failed to give him medical care despite his obvious injuries and distress.

Guerrero, a jailer, and other members of the jail staff also violated Zuniga’s rights by withholding appropriate medical care, the lawsuit alleges.

“They failed to have him medically evaluated upon his booking. They conducted a suicide evaluation and yet ignored his obvious physical injuries and the substantial risk of harm arising from those injuries,” the lawsuit states. "They held his head up during his booking and photographed his obvious injuries but failed to provide him with any medical attention.

“They threw him into a cell and left him without any care or medical evaluation for 21-plus hours while his condition worsened. On multiple and repeated instances, despite their knowledge of a substantial risk of serious harm, they acted with deliberate indifference to the urgent medical needs of Mr. Zuniga.”

The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages for Zuniga’s pain and suffering prior to his death, for his medical and burial expenses, his wife and son’s past and future loss of support and the “severe mental anguish” his family has, and will continue to, suffer.

It also seeks punitive damages against the deputies involved.

Cox Media Group