6 July 18th-July 24th, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | 3 Deaths, 3 Lawsuits Phoenix cops sued over pair of 2023 shootings, car crash. BY TJ L’HEUREUX P hoenix police officers fatally shot Raul Mendez and Juan Manuel Reynoso in the summer of 2023. In December, another officer steered his cruiser into a car driven by Ashley Vailes, sending it spinning into a telephone pole where it burst into flames and left her dead. This year, in a four-day span, the surviving loved ones of all three victims filed wrongful death lawsuits in Maricopa County Superior Court against the city of Phoenix and the officers involved. The families of Mendez, 35, and Reynoso, 26, sued on June 28, roughly a year after both men were killed. The shoot- ings happened mere days apart in 2023, representing the eighth and ninth of the department’s 12 killings that year. Vailes’ family sued on July 1. The lawsuits also were filed less than a month after a long-awaited report from the U.S. Department of Justice found Phoenix police have engaged in discriminatory policing of minorities and used excessive force for years. Responding to questions from Phoenix New Times, police spokes- person Sgt. Phil Krynsky said the Reynoso incident was still under internal investiga- tion, but Mendez’s killing was found to be within the department’s policy. Eric Jeide, the lawyer for the families of the two men shot by police, declined to comment. Michael Grubbs, the attorney for Vailes’ family, did not respond to an inquiry from New Times. All three lawsuits seek compensatory and punitive damages for the families of the deceased, as well as funeral and burial expenses. At the end of 2023, the Phoenix City Council approved three settlements for different death or injury cases involving police officers. Those settlements added up to more than $11 million. Here is a closer look at the three cases. A fiery crash Vailes was 19 years old when she died in the collision. In their lawsuit, Vailes’ parents accused the city and Officer Javon Brown of negligence in their daughter’s death. According to their lawsuit, Brown committed a traffic violation when he “failed to ensure the intersection was clear before executing a left hand turn, failed to yield to oncoming traffic when executing the turn, (and) failed to slow down or stop to avoid the collision.” The suit also named the city as a defen- dant, stating that the city had “a non-dele- gable duty to the public not to permit unfit employees to operate its vehicles” and “a duty to train, supervise, or otherwise ensure Brown would not operate its vehicle negligently.” Brown had just taken a suspect into custody. Police said Vailes entered the intersection during a red light. The lawsuit makes no mention of that detail. ‘False report’ turns fatal Reynoso’s death was the subject of a “critical incident briefing” released by the department two weeks after police killed him. The briefings are narrated by officers and include edited compilations of body camera footage, dispatch audio and other information regarding an incident. Officer Christopher Spelts arrived at Reynoso’s home near 19th Avenue and Buckeye Road on June 28, 2023, after receiving a 911 call in which a neighbor claimed she witnessed Reynoso assault his wife. “It’s not the first time he hits her,” the unidentified neighbor told the dispatcher, according to an audio clip. “He grabbed her by the neck and threw her back inside.” But Reynoso’s family — including his wife, Maria Garcia — told New Times last July that the neighbor, with whom they had an ongoing conflict, made a false report to police. Garcia said that Reynoso had not been physically violent to her. “Everything that they said that he did was not true,” Garcia said at the time. “I don’t know why they would say something like that, to make him sound like he’s dangerous. He’s not.” The department did not release footage from the beginning of the couple’s interac- tion with Spelts. In the footage that was released, a shirtless Reynoso could be seen pacing in his yard and repeatedly saying he wanted to die. “Kill me, please,” he told Spelts, though both men remained calm. A minute into the footage, a second officer, Aaron Chaumont, arrived. Spelts then told Reynoso to “stop messing around.” “All right,” Reynoso replied. Spelts and Chaumont quickly backed Reynoso into a wall in an apparent attempt to detain him. It’s unclear why. One officer instructed Reynoso to put his hands behind his back, but Reynoso instead took off running across the street toward a neighbor’s house. Body-cam video showed Reynoso bending down and then continuing to walk away. Spelts shouted that Reynoso had a gun and commanded him to “put it down.” Within seconds, both officers fired a total of seven shots at Reynoso as he was turned away from them, the video showed. According to the lawsuit, Reynoso was hit with all seven shots: one in the left bicep, one in the upper chest, two in the left center of his chest, one in his left abdomen and two in his right shin. Reynoso then started howling in pain, yelling at officers that the gun was fake. Indeed, the gun recovered on the scene was a pellet gun, according to police. A 15-year-old witness with a clear view of the events told New Times last year that she did not see Reynoso point any weapon at the officers. The lawsuit accused Spelts and Chaumont of failing to properly investigate the reason for the 911 call. The officers “further breached the duty of care when attempting to detain” Reynoso, the lawsuit said, including “not having any reasonable suspicion that Mr. Reynoso had committed a crime.” It noted that there was no phys- ical altercation between Garcia and Reynoso and that Garcia told the officers before the shooting that she was not pressing charges. Additionally, the suit said Spelts and Phoenix cops are defendants in three wrongful death cases, including two related to 2023 police shootings. (Photo courtesy of the Phoenix Police Department) | NEWS |
