From [HERE] A man who was shot at 13 times by a Riverside County sheriff’s deputy in Moreno Valley last year is suing the county, claiming the deputy used excessive force, lied in his report on the incident and was not properly held accountable.

The lawsuit goes further, alleging that the shooting was the result of policies and practices within the Sheriff’s Department, including inadequate supervision and discipline of deputies, that “have resulted in a culture of violence in which the use of excessive force is an accepted and customary part of police work in the County of Riverside.”

The suit, filed Thursday in federal court on behalf of plaintiff Manuel Vasquez, 29, demands a jury trial and seeks yet-to-be-determined damages. Two defendants in addition to the county are named: Sheriff Stan Sniff and Investigator Michael Callahan, who shot Vasquez.

The Sheriff’s Department declined to comment on the allegations in the lawsuit because the litigation is ongoing.

The shooting occurred about 2 a.m. June 12, 2016. Vasquez was struck twice in the back and once each in the head and left hand, the lawsuit says. His attorney, Jeremy Jass, said in an interview that the injuries continue to hinder Vasquez’s life — he cannot use his left hand, which makes finding work difficult.

The shooting

A news release issued by the Sheriff’s Department at the time said a deputy was on routine patrol when he spotted a stolen car and followed it to the 15300 block of Canyonstone Drive, where the driver parked and approached a house. The release said only that the shooting happened after the deputy made contact with the man.

According to the lawsuit, Vasquez was driving his sister’s car — which had been reported stolen — to visit his girlfriend at her mother’s house. Callahan watched Vasquez walk up to the home and followed him with his pistol drawn.

While Vasquez and his girlfriend were talking through a window, Callahan ordered Vasquez to put his hands up, the suit said. Vasquez — “not sure who was talking to him or what was said to him” — turned around and asked, “What?”

The lawsuit contends that as Vasquez began to put his hands up, Callahan shot at him 13 times.

Vasquez was taken to a hospital, then booked into jail the next day, sheriff’s officials said at the time.

The lawsuit claims that Callahan “lied in his report and interview after the shooting” in saying that he saw Vasquez with a gun and that Vasquez “took a shooting stance at him.”

Vasquez was unarmed, had not committed a serious crime, did not pose a threat to Callahan, was showing his hands as ordered and was shot while he “was in a position of submission,” the complaint said. Jass said Vasquez’s injuries contradict the deputy’s claims.