MODESTO, Calif. — Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office is facing a lawsuit after deputies shot and killed a 41-year-old man outside what they believed was a burglarized business near 800 Business Park Drive in 2020.
John Burris, civil rights attorney, said during a news conference that Eloy Gonzalez, Jr, was sitting inside a makeshift cardboard shelter when deputies approached him.
"Gonzalez was not the aggressor," Burris said. "He never left the position that he was in. He was in his home, in his bed, where he lived, sitting still. It was the officers who approached, yelled, screamed, and ultimately attacked him. He didn’t attack them.”
Sergeant Luke Schwartz, a spokesperson for the sheriff's office, told ABC10 he couldn't comment on the lawsuit itself. He did say that the Stanislaus County District Attorney's office found no criminal wrongdoing on the deputies.
"Any loss of life, regardless of the circumstances, is always tragic," Schwartz said. "Law enforcement officers are often confronted with difficult situations. They must make split-second decisions based on multiple factors present in that very instant."
Schwartz said in 2020 that deputies found a man near the area of a potentially burglarized business after dispatch received a call of a burglary. An altercation ensued when they tried to take him into custody, which is when the shooting took place.
Deputies claimed they were injured because Gonzalez attacked them with a hatchet.
Schwartz said both officers were assigned to administrative duties as the Stanislaus County District Attorney's office conducted the investigation.
