Charlotte man killed by police stood in ‘surrender,’ appeals court opinion says

The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday ruled mostly in favor on the appeal from the girlfriend of Ruben Galindo Chavez, who was shot and killed by police at his Charlotte home in 2017.

The court vacated a lower court’s decision that the officer who killed Galindo was covered under qualified immunity. Qualified immunity protects police officers from individual liability unless the officer clearly violated an established constitutional right, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. This immunity can grant officers protection against lawsuits.

Galindo’s girlfriend and the mother of his child, Azucena Zamorano Alemana, appealed in 2021 the trial court’s decision to throw out the original lawsuit against Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police.

With Wednesday’s ruling, his girlfriend and her lawyer Luke Largess may continue the civil case, which may include a trial.

In September 2017, 30-year-old Galindo — who did not speak English — called 911 and told dispatchers he wanted to turn himself in ahead of an upcoming court date involving an earlier arrest for pointing a gun at someone, the Charlotte Observer reported previously.

Galindo told the dispatcher he had a gun, and they asked him to leave it in the house and to not take it out of its bag. Galindo didn’t indicate he understood this and claimed he intended to surrender the weapon to officers, according to court documents.

When police arrived, Galindo had a gun in his hand. Police repeatedly ordered him to show his hands in Spanish, and in English they told him to drop the gun. As he raised his hands, they shot and killed him.

The encounter took six seconds, the Observer previously reported.

In 2021, the court offered summary judgment, saying the officer who shot Galindo, David Guerra, was justified in doing so and had qualified immunity, according to court documents.

Previously, the District Attorney’s Office found Galindo failed to follow commands by responding officers asking him to put his gun down. The body-cam police video footage, however, showed Galindo with his arms above his head when officers shot him, the Observer has reported previously.

This body camera footage was cited in the new ruling and Judge Robert King, who wrote the court’s opinion, said that upon closer inspection of the footage, the judges would vacate the decision to uphold qualified immunity for Guerra and called for “further proceedings.”

The judges point out that Galindo was trying to understand and comply with officers and wrote in the majority opinion he quickly assumed a “position of surrender.”

Guerra’s attorneys previously argued that Galindo presented an immediate threat to officers.

When the court previously ruled in favor of CMPD, U.S. District Judge Robert Conrad of Charlotte said:

“A reasonable officer in Guerra’s position did not have to wait (until a gun was pointed at him); did not have to trust a man believed to be delusional, and possibly homicidal or suicidal; a man who had refused every law enforcement directive aimed at keeping him and others safe.”

Judges in this opinion say Galindo never pointed his pistol toward Guerra or another officer, and he did not make any movement suggesting that he was about to fire the pistol.

The panel of three appeals court judges affirmed the decision to dismiss the portion of the original lawsuit against the city of Charlotte for alleged negligent police training, but said further proceedings are needed to determine whether CMPD and the city are liable for the other claims in the lawsuit.

These claims by Galindo’s family accuse CMPD and the city of assault and battery, wrongful death, and negligent infliction of emotional distress, according to the ruling.

One of the federal judges, Julius Richardson, wrote a dissenting opinion and suggests the judges who remanded the appeal to further proceedings are improperly denying Guerra’s qualified immunity as a police officer.

What happened to Ruben Galindo?

In a recording of the 911 call, released publicly a month after he was shot and killed, Galindo is heard saying he has a gun on him, but repeats the phrase “I have no bullets” in Spanish.

When police arrived they heard a woman in his apartment and instead of waiting for a Spanish-speaking officer to speak with Galindo, the officers confronted him, according to court documents.

Court documents describe Galindo as paranoid.

The documents cite Galindo’s remarks to the 911 dispatcher as proof of this. During the call, he first claimed his name was “El Dios Estrella” (which translates to “the Star God”), before giving the name “Ruben Galindo,” according to the documents.

He also spoke of police officers and other people following him and he said that “I can’t take it any longer.” He would not answer questions asking if he was homicidal or suicidal, and denied taking drugs but admitted to drinking alcohol that day, according to court documents. A toxicology screening found he had alcohol but no drugs in his system.

When asked if he was going to harm the officers or anyone in his house Galindo told the dispatcher no and said he wanted the officers to take him away. He specifically requested a police officer who could speak Spanish, according to court documents.

Guerra and three of his colleagues — Officers Ryan Tran-Thompson, Courtney Suggs, and David Batson — arrived at Galindo’s home during his second call to 911.

A few minutes after arriving, the officers decided to confront Galindo in case the female voice they reported hearing was someone in distress in his apartment.

Guerra repeatedly told Galindo, who was holding the pistol, to put his hands up in English, and said “Manos, Manos,” meaning hands, in Spanish. Body camera footage shows Galindo had his hands up when he was shot. Attorneys for Guerra argue he believed Galindo was raising the pistol to shoot him when Guerra shot at him.

Galindo’s family says CMPD should have waited for a Spanish-speaking officer before attempting to confront Galindo.