Editor's note: This story includes details about suicide. Contact 9-8-8 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline if you're in need of help and support.
Update: This story has been updated with a statement from the city of El Paso.
EL PASO, Texas (KTEP) - The city of El Paso has agreed to pay $600,000 to the family of a 30-year-old who died in 2015 after a police officer tased him while he attempted to hang himself with a rope tied to a basketball hoop.
Daniel Ramirez was experiencing a mental health crisis and was expressing thoughts of suicide when his mother called 9-1-1 eight years ago. An El Paso Police Department officer, Ruben Escajeda, was the first to respond to the call and went directly to the Ramirez family’s backyard where he found Daniel.
According to court documents, Escajeda saw Ramirez on his tip-toes with his hands clenched around a rope. Escajeda fired a taser at Ramirez causing his body to contract, leading to his death.
The Ramirez family filed a federal lawsuit against the city in 2017 alleging Daniel’s civil rights were violated when he was tased, and that the El Paso Police Department’s policy toward use of force and practices were a factor in Escajeda’s actions.
In 2021, federal Judge David Guaderrama authored a 108-page order stating he found the Ramirez family had enough evidence for a jury to find Daniel’s rights were violated.
“I visit my son’s grave every day. On this Friday, it will be eight years since he was killed. My grief is the same,” Pedro Ramirez, Daniel’s father said in a statement. “We called the police to help my son, instead the officer killed him. I still don’t understand why. I also don’t understand why the Department covered for this officer rather than hold him accountable.”
The city has opted to pay a settlement rather than go to trial over police use of force in mental health cases, twice now, in almost 16 months. Just last year, the city agreed to pay $1.2 million to the family of Erik Emmanuel Salas-Sanchez, who died the same year as Daniel.
Salas-Sanchez, who was 22-years-old when he died, was shot multiple times in the back inside his mother’s house.
The city of El Paso released a statement late on Friday, stating the police department has implemented a Crisis Intervention Team to handle mental health cases. And, is adding training and reviewing the work of the El Paso Discipline Review Board and the Shooting Review Board.
The city's statement also said officials have worked with community members and the Border Network for Human Rights to develop and expand improvements in public safety.
"The settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing by the City, its Police Department, nor Officer Escajeda—who was dismissed from the lawsuit by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which found no wrongdoing by the officer," city attorney Karla Nieman said in a statement. "While we believe the City could prevail at trial, the settlement represented a financial consideration made in the best interests of the taxpayers and community.”
In both lawsuits, families alleged officers were poorly trained to handle mental health calls, partly because of the El Paso Police Department’s leadership under former police chief Greg Allen.
“We learned through this litigation, there are very fundamental problems with our department." Lynn Coyle, one of the family’s attorneys, said. "And, the community itself, and officers are not going to be truly served and safe until we address those problems,”
Contact 9-8-8 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline if you're in need of help and support or visit 988lifeline.org.
