On Thursday, the jury found that officers Robert Sanchez and Greg Vasquez violated Flores’ civil rights by using “excessive and unnecessary deadly force.”
The jury ordered both deputies to each pay $1,435,000 to the family in compensatory damages. In addition, Vasquez was ordered to pay $5 million in punitive damages, and Sanchez $2.5 million.
CNN has reached out to defense attorneys for the deputies for comment.
Flores spoke to the dispatchers as well, asking if paramedics were coming and later saying he was planning to die at the hands of police, according to the affiliate.
The jurors in the civil case watched the bystander’s video during testimony, the affiliate reported. Vasquez, one of the two deputies, also took the stand and said he tried to deescalate the situation, but Flores lunged at him with a knife several times and struck him with it, according to the affiliate. “The situation was getting bad to worse,” Vasquez said, according to the affiliate.
“The return of this verdict by a jury of our peers here in Bexar County demonstrates that we will not tolerate the use of excessive force that kills our citizens.” said Thomas J. Henry, an attorney for the Flores family, adding that without videos of the shooting the family may “never have obtained justice.”
“My hope is that this sends a message to all law enforcement in the United States that excessive force will not be tolerated,” Henry said.
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