Man claims he received ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ for detention at Hidalgo County Jail and arrest by Edcouch PD – Progress Times

After midnight on a Sunday in July 2022, a police officer responded to Maria Moreno's apartment in Edcouch after her 40-year-old son Luis suffered a mental breakdown.

According to an arrest document, Maria called police after Luis began screaming and reacting hostilely when someone asked him on a crisis hotline if he was suicidal.

According to arrest records and a lawsuit filed last month, that call to police set off a chain of events that began with Luis sitting on his mother's couch and ended with a 46-day stay in Hidalgo County Jail, where he spent most of the day handcuffed to a chair, lost significant weight and broke his arm in a struggle with a deputy.

The lawsuit filed by Luis and Maria Moreno alleges that Hidalgo County, its sheriff's office and a deputy sheriff violated Luis' Fourth and Eighth Amendment rights by using excessive force against him while in custody.

The lawsuit also alleges that the county, sheriff's office and their representatives failed to take action after Luis' arm was broken in jail and that jail staff were not adequately trained.

In prison, according to the lawsuit, Luis was subjected to “inhumane conditions.”

The city of Edcouch and its police department are also named as defendants in the lawsuit for failing to protect Luis from “a punishment inconsistent with evolving standards of decency.”

The Morenos are demanding damages ranging between $200,000 and $1 million.

According to a criminal complaint, Sergeant Juan Quintana of the Edcouch Police Department met with Maria Moreno shortly before 1 a.m. on July 24, 2022, after she called the police.

Maria, the lawsuit says, instructed Luis to call a crisis hotline because he was having anxiety attacks, but his behavior changed after he told the person on the phone that he was not suicidal.

Maria said Luis “started screaming and became very hostile,” the complaint states, which frightened her and made her feel like she was in danger.

It was not the first time that Quintana had been called to the Morenos' residence, her lawsuit states.

According to the lawsuit, he had been called to their residence several times before and was familiar with Luis' mental health issues. In the past, he had typically taken him to Tropical Texas Behavioral Health after calls to the hotline.

That didn't happen on July 24, 2022.

Instead, the indictment says, Quintana went to Maria's apartment and found Luis sitting on a couch. Quintana told Luis that he was going to be arrested.

Luis stood up and put his hands behind his back, but when Quintana removed the handcuffs, he tried to run out of the apartment, the indictment says.

“I pulled Luis back toward me to prevent him from leaving and he slammed his head into a window, causing me to sustain physical injuries to my chest,” Quintana wrote in the complaint. “Luis attempted to run away again, so I grabbed him by the shirt and used reasonable force to throw him to the ground. I told him to calm down and he began to scream 'no.' Luis remained on the ground and refused to cooperate with my arrest.”

Quintana took Luis to a cell at the Edcouch Police Station. He was charged with resisting arrest and assault on an officer and was booked into the Hidalgo County Jail the same day on a total of $22,500 bail.

Luis would not be convicted of any of these charges.

A grand jury decided against an assault charge against Luis and a judge dismissed the resisting prosecution charge in early 2023.

Edcouch City Manager Victor Hugo de la Cruz told the Progress Times last month he was aware of the lawsuit and the city was investigating the arrest. He said the city found that Quintana followed policies and procedures that night.

“Unfortunately for us, whenever a call comes in, we go out there and take action,” he said. “And if there's damage, if someone's injured or whatever the case is — I mean, we don't go around and say, 'Hey, do you have a card that says you have special needs?' You know, that's really difficult: Yes, our officers are trained for special needs, but when you go out on a call, you don't know what's going on.”

De la Cruz declined to comment on the lawsuit in general, but said it was unclear to him why Edcouch and its police department were even mentioned in it, since many of the Morenos' complaints relate to the Hidalgo County Jail.

“I know we are named in the lawsuit, but when you read the details, I'm not sure if they know who they want to sue or not,” he said.

David Cantu, the Morenos' lawyer, declined to comment.

“I think we need to dig deeper into this, see how the case develops and share more evidence,” he said. “So I don't feel comfortable answering any questions at this time.”

According to the Morenos' lawsuit, Luis' arrest was only the beginning of his problems.

According to the lawsuit, Luis was placed in a restraint chair on July 25, one day after his arrival at the Hidalgo County Jail, and spent most of the 24 hours in it.

According to the assessment records on restraint chairs, prison staff placed Luis in a chair because he was screaming and would not be quiet.

After a day in the restraint chair, the lawsuit states, Luis was released and taken to an isolation cell by members of the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Special Emergency Response Team.

The cell was poorly lit and Luis became frightened, the lawsuit states.

According to the lawsuit, a struggle ensued and the officers transporting Luis pushed him facedown on the ground, at which point Deputy Justin Galvan “tightened his grip and used extreme force,” breaking Luis' arm.

According to court documents, doctors at the South Texas Health System in Edinburg operated on Luis' arm on July 28 before he returned to prison two days later.

Luis was not finally released from prison until September 8. His mother took him to the hospital three days later, where, according to the lawsuit, X-rays showed evidence of a “segmental spiral fracture of the left humeral shaft” that required corrective surgery.

According to the lawsuit, Galvan – who is named as a defendant – and another member of the emergency team were interviewed earlier this year and claimed that Luis “broke his arm.”

The Morenos claim the sheriff's office never investigated the incident.

“No internal investigation was conducted following this act of excessive force,” their lawsuit states. “No internal investigation was conducted following this act of excessive force. No final review of the excessive force was conducted following this act of excessive force.”

The lawsuit also alleges that Luis' guards did not feed him adequately.

“Luis was not adequately fed in the county jail,” it says.

According to court documents, Luis weighed 180 pounds when he underwent his first surgery on July 28.

When doctors operated on Luis again on September 16 after he was released from prison on bail, his medical records listed his weight as 156 pounds.

Luis had lost 24 pounds in 50 days, nearly half a pound a day between his first and second surgeries. He spent most of his time in the Hidalgo County Jail.

Hidalgo County referred a request for comment on the lawsuit to the sheriff's office, which declined to comment.

“On the advice of our legal counsel, we do not comment on ongoing legal proceedings,” a spokesman said.

The Morenos are not the first to have accused Hidalgo County of mistreatment recently.

In January, the family of a man who died after being arrested by Hidalgo County sheriff's officers reached a settlement with the county after filing a wrongful death lawsuit.