Suit alleges man’s rights violated in Mission jail

A federal lawsuit filed in August claims that the city of Mission violated the rights of a man with mental disabilities after the city’s jail released him with such bad injuries he had to be intubated and admitted into a hospital’s intensive care unit.

 

At about 10:30 in the morning one December day in 2022 officers from the Mission Police Department arrested Rogelio “Roy” Gonzalez after he allegedly stole a jug of Prestone antifreeze worth $10.38 from a Walmart, according to the suit.

 

Officers took Gonzalez to the Mission jail, the suit says, where he stayed for at least the next five hours before being released to a family member later that day.

 

He was released from jail in a wheelchair, clearly injured, and would soon start vomiting blood.

 

The mystery of what happened to Gonzalez at the Mission jail that day is central to the lawsuit.

 

 

McAllen attorney Mauro Ruiz filed that suit in federal court against the city of Mission on behalf of Gonzalez’s mother, Aida Gonzalez.

 

The suit alleges the city violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act the day of Rogelio’s arrest by discriminating against him while he was in jail and failing to accommodate for his disabilities.

 

It also alleges that the city violated Rogelio’s 14th Amendment rights.

 

“The repeated, extensive, and pervasive acts and omissions of constitutional violations inside the Mission PD jail give rise to multiple official policies, practices, City’s policies, practices, culture and customs which serve as the basis of the following causes of action below,” it says.

 

The suit lists failure to observe and monitor, failure to provide medical care, excessive use of force by jail employees on detainees, systemic understaffing and failure to train among those causes of action.

 

The city hadn’t by late Thursday morning filed a response in court, though it was due to that day.

 

The lawsuit describes her son as a 47-year-old man with the intellect of an eight-year-old, a man who’s been diagnosed as bipolar and slightly autistic.

 

“He is friendly, but cannot keep a conversation,” it says. “He has speech and hearing problems. He often makes awkward movements with his head — a tick. He cannot maintain eye contact. He takes Ceprexa (sic) for schizophrenia and other medications for diabetes and hypertension. Rogelio agrees with everything a person tells him, especially if they are Dallas Cowboys football fans. Rogelio is the biggest fan of the Dallas Cowboys.”

 

Mission police were familiar with Rogelio and were familiar with him sometimes causing issues at the Walmart just down the road from his home, according to the suit.

 

“Mission police officers and jailers knew Rogelio,” it says. “They also knew of his mental health illness and developmental deficits before December 5, 2022. Mission police officers have been called to Wal-Mart (sic) on two or three occasions before December 2022. During those occurrences, Rogelio was caught by Wal-Mart (sic) employees trying to steal or stealing items valued at less than $10.00. The most recent incident occurred some time in 2021.”

 

In December 2022, after allegedly stealing the jug of antifreeze, Mission police booked Rogelio in their jail.

 

According to the suit, Aida called the Mission police department around 3:30 that afternoon to report Rogelio missing. Later that day, the department called his family requesting they pick him up for “time served.”

 

When a family member arrived and Rogelio had been wheeled out, she noticed he had scratches on his head and dried blood on his knuckles, the suit says, so she had Mission PD call an ambulance.

 

“A paramedic asked Rogelio questions, but Rogelio was in shock,” it reads. “He would not move. He would only say that his back hurt.”

 

When Rogelio arrived at a hospital in Mission, Aida learned that he was “throwing up very dark blood — like the color of coffee grounds,” which was caused by internal bleeding.

 

Rogelio was transferred to McAllen Medical Center.

 

 

“He is intubated and taken to ICU. He also received a blood transfusion,” the suit says, noting that Rogelio underwent several surgeries for injuries to his pelvis, hip and left knee the next day.

 

The day doctors were operating on Rogelio, Police Chief Cesar Torres and leadership from the city of Mission were holding a well-attended press conference to unveil a new patrol unit that pledged to “beat Mental Health” through awareness and advocacy.

 

“Don’t forget that everyone has a story,” Torres told the press. “And so, treat people with respect and be kind.”

 

Mission making a fuss out of mental health awareness after a man with mental disabilities had been significantly injured in its jail was, the suit said, was “ironic.”

 

The lawsuit claims that away from television cameras, Torres had called doctors at both hospitals and that personnel from the department later arrived at McAllen Medical Center, offering to pay all of Rogelio’s hospital bills.

 

Rogelio’s current condition isn’t described in the court documents, though they do note he doesn’t have a history of self-harm.

 

The suit also doesn’t elaborate specifically on how Rogelio received his injuries.

 

A petition filed by Ruiz in County Court at Law Number Six last year that sought to depose Torres and other involved parties said Rogelio may have been assaulted by someone working for the city.

 

“Petitioner knows very little about the mistreatment of Mr. Gonzalez while in custody at the City of Mission lockup,” it says. “However, based on information and belief, unknown personnel employed by the City of Mission physically assaulted Mr. Gonzalez while in custody at the City of Mission lockup.”

 

Instead of submitting any of its employees for deposition, the suit notes, the city turned over documents that described Rogelio’s arrest but don’t appear to have shed any light on how he received his injuries.

 

The lawsuit is more descriptive about a “deliberate, callous, conscious, and unreasonable indifference” to Rogelio’s rights.

 

It describes him in a cell alone that day in 2022, “languishing in pain” after he’d received his injuries, unobserved or ignored by his jailers.

 

“Mission jail’s culture of violence and policies, practices, and customs of failing to observe and monitor detainees, provide timely and adequate medical care, institutionalized excessive force by jail employees on detainees, and systemic understaffing of the jail were the direct cause and moving force of Rogelio’s injuries,” it says.

 

The suit is seeking monetary damages related to the allegations.