Ramon Hernandez Brutality Suit Underway: Austin Officer says his 14 punches to Handcuffed Suspect's Back Justified

The man accusing three Austin police officers of violating his civil rights was back on the stand in federal court Tuesday.

Ramon Hernandez was beaten and stun-gunned by police officers after a traffic stop in September 2005.

The six-woman jury in U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Pitman's court viewed the video Tuesday.  As the use of force by the police officers escalated, some members of the jury grimaced. One juror held her hand to her mouth, while others simply sat and stared at the video screen. It shows him being held down face first by three officers and being struck by two while he is handcuffed.

In the dash-cam video, Hernandez can be heard screaming as the officers restrain him.

As the tape plays out, one of the officers can be heard telling Hernandez to "stop resisting."

Austin police Officer Christopher Gray, who delivered 14 punches to the back of a suspect who fled a car accident scene in 2005 in a beating captured by a patrol car video camera, testified today in a federal civil rights trial that his force was justified.

Gray said he punched Ramon Hernandez, 27, after he had been handcuffed behind a Central Austin transmission shop because he was fearful Hernandez would turn over and attack him or his fellow officers.

"You felt threatened?," asked Hernandez's lawyer, Amber Vasquez Bode.
"Yes, ma'am," Gray said.
"Was it because he was face down on his belly?"
"No, ma'am."
Gray said "it's the totality of the circumstances," explaining that he had witnessed Hernandez earlier putting his hands on then-Officer William Bradley Heilman's gun.

Bode paused the video while it depicted Gray kneeling on top of Hernandez's midsection and asked whether Gray considered Hernandez under control.

After a slight head and hip movement by Hernandez, Gray unleashed a flurry of 10 punches.
Bode asked why Gray didn't stop punching after two or three or four or five punches.

"I stopped punching when he stopped resisting."

Later on the video, Gray is seen punching Hernandez twice more. After another pause, he punched Hernandez two more times.

Earlier in the second day of the federal civil rights trial against the officers, two of whom are no longer on the force, Hernandez testified that he has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

"It's hard to concentrate, it's hard to think properly, it's hard to focus my thoughts," Hernandez said under questioning by his lawyer, Amber Vasquez Bode. He said he first felt the symptoms of his illness the day he ran from a car accident and encountered the police.

Lawyers for the defendants — Gray and former officers Heilman and Joel Follmer — have attempted to scrutinize Hernandez's conduct on Sept. 21, 2005. Hernandez left the scene of a Burnet Road car accident after talking with police, scaled a razor wire fence and kneeled to pray in a nearby transmission shop.

At the shop, Heilman used a Taser stun gun on Hernandez several times while attempting to arrest him. According to the officer's lawyers, Heilman also hit Hernandez with his collapsible baton. Hernandez fought through the force and at one point put his hand on Heilman's gun.

After Follmer and Gray arrived as backup, they got Hernandez in cuffs and wrestled him to the ground. As they took him down, the melee came into the view of video cameras.

Attorneys for officers Christopher Gray, Joel Follmer and William Heilman continued their attempts to discredit Hernandez. They pointed out that he has changed his story as to what he remembers officers telling him several times.

In March 2006, Gray and Heilman were acquitted of official oppression charges, a class A misdemeanor. Criminal charges against Follmer were later dropped. Following the incident, Follmer was fired, Heilman resigned and Gray was given a 70-day suspension. Hernandez filed the civil suit against the three officers in December 2006.

"How much do you think they owe you?" assistant city attorney Frederick Hawkins asked Hernandez during cross-examination.

"I don't know," Hernandez answered. "Can you sue for an apology?"

"Do you want an apology?" Hawkins asked.

Hernandez said an apology would not hold the officers liable for their actions. [MORE] and [MORE]