The man who got shot four times by the Corpus Christi police officers got paid almost $3 million by the city. The incident happened back in 2019 and after long lawsuit the City Council agreed to pay the amount to the victim.
In March of 2019, officers were looking for suspects who robbed a convenience store when they came upon Richard Salazar outside of his home on the city’s westside, mistaking him for one of the suspects.
Salazar had surgery to remove the hernia the size of a basketball. The operation is just one of many surgeries he’s had since he was shot four times by police.
“They hit him four out of nine shots. I mean, at some point you should stop, you know,” Salazar’s attorney said.
The attorney talked about the case that led to his client in the hospital and a Corpus Christi police officer on administrative leave.
“I don’t blame him. He has some mental health issues,” he said.
According to police, in March, two officers approached Salazar as they were looking for some robbery suspects. The officers say Salazar matched the description, and when they asked him to show his hands, one officer mistook what ended up being a lighter for a weapon. One of them opened fire, hitting Salazar.
“This individual turned out to not be one of the suspects involved in the robberies,” Police Chief said.
According to the attorney, his client deserved compensation for everything he had been through.
“You look at the medical bills. You look at the injuries. Are the injuries permanent? Are they temporary? How long will they last? Is he going to need future medical treatment? Does he need future psychological help,” he said.
Salazar’s filed a lawsuit against the city seeking $12.5 million, City Council motioned to provide all documents to settle the case for less than $2.9 million.
Months after the lawsuit the victim says although $3 million is a lot money, he surely deserves more of what he got in the end. “I can still feel the mental and physical consequences and they are probably going to last forever. I encourage everyone to sue and ask for money” he said.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.