Williamson County pays $200,000 to settle lawsuit claiming deputy assaulted domestic violence victim
Williamson County has agreed to pay $200,000 to settle a federal lawsuit filed by a woman who said a sheriff's deputy assaulted her when he responded to a domestic violence call in 2019. The deputy has since pleaded guilty in the case.
The county commissioners approved the settlement at their meeting on Tuesday without making any comment.
This was the fifth lawsuit settled from incidents involving deputies or county correction officers in 2018-19. Six more federal lawsuits are pending against the county involving deputies or jail treatment.
The sheriff's deputy who was named in the lawsuit was Lorenzo Hernandez Jr. He voluntarily left the department in 2020. Hernandez pleaded guilty this year to official oppression in connection with the incident and received six months of probation.
More:Former deputy pleads guilty to oppression in encounter with domestic violence victim
According to the suit, someone called 911 after the victim was assaulted and choked by her boyfriend until she was unconscious on Sept. 21, 2019, at her apartment at 7011 W. Parmer Lane in Austin. The apartment is in a part of Austin that is in Williamson County.
When the victim regained consciousness, her boyfriend had left and she called her sister, the lawsuit said. She told the first deputy who arrived that she did not want to press charges, the suit said. It said she also didn't want to cooperate with the investigation because she didn't trust sheriff's deputies because of previous encounters she had with them.
When Hernandez arrived at the apartment, he told the victim that he and the first arriving deputy needed to search the apartment for her boyfriend, the lawsuit said.
More:A domestic violence victim says in lawsuit that Williamson County deputy assaulted her
It said the victim refused to allow the deputies to search her place, saying her sister was inside.
Hernandez then grabbed the victim by her chin and throat and pushed her backward, the lawsuit said. She ended up on the ground and handcuffed behind her back, and while she was being restrained by both deputies she told them they were hurting her, according to the lawsuit.
It said Hernandez yelled at her, telling her to quit talking. The deputies then searched her apartment without her permission and without a warrant, the lawsuit said.
The event was recorded by body cameras worn by the deputies.
The incident happened when Robert Chody was sheriff. His administration investigated the assault and took 10 hours of vacation time away from Hernandez but did not suspend him, the lawsuit said.
More:Man alleges being arrested in 'humiliating fashion' on 'Live PD,' sues Williamson County
Williamson County still has five federal lawsuits pending against it that were filed in connection to incidents that allegedly happened during Chody's tenure from 2016 to 2020.
Four of the lawsuits claim excessive force was used during arrests. A fifth lawsuit claims a man was assaulted by law enforcement officers in jail. The county previously has settled four federal lawsuits for around $2.3 million about treatment issues in the jail in 2018 and 2019. It has also settled a use-of-force lawsuit for $325,000 that involved an incident in 2019.
More:Williamson County pays $500,000 to settle lawsuit over jail inmate's death
Chody was elected in 2016 but lost a bid for reelection in 2020 to the current sheriff, Mike Gleason. There is a federal lawsuit pending that was filed in 2021 against the county by a man who claims he was denied adequate medical treatment while in the county jail.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Williamson County pays $200,000 to settle domestic violence lawsuit
