SAN ANTONIO – A federal jury this week found that multiple San Antonio police officers violated a man’s constitutional rights by using excessive force and performing an unreasonable search of a vehicle, court records obtained Friday show.
Jose Castro filed suit in 2020 against several SAPD law enforcement officials, including officers Kimberly Kory, Michael Thornton, Carl Kerawalla, and Shawn King, accusing them of violating his constitutional rights two years earlier.
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Castro demanded a trial by jury, case records show.
Jury members on Thursday agreed that Kerawalla and King violated Castro’s constitutional rights by using excessive force.
The jury members also found that Kerawalla, King, and Thornton violated Castro’s constitutional rights when they performed an unreasonable search of his vehicle, a copy of the verdict shows.
Records indicate Castro was awarded $265,000 in total by the jury.
Castro’s attorney, Dan Packard, provided KSAT with a statement on the verdict.
“The Jury’s verdict sent a clear statement that a police officer should never point a gun at any person who does not present a danger to the police or to others,” Packard said, in part. “We sincerely hope that the officers involved, and the San Antonio Police Department, internalize the message sent by the Jury’s verdict and that they all will make the necessary changes so that this never happens to anyone again.”
KSAT confirmed with city officials that Kory, Thornton, Kerawalla and King are still employed with SAPD.
Lawsuit details
The lawsuit states Castro stopped in a parking lot in August 2018 to take a short nap before delivering supplies to hospitals when he was “startled” by officers telling him to get out of his vehicle.
Castro realized that the people yelling at him were SAPD officers who had guns pointed in his direction, according to the suit. In fear for his life, records show that Castro called 911 and said that he didn’t know what kind of police confronted him and pleaded with the operator to send “the police to his location.”
The lawsuit states that Castro was physically assaulted while in his vehicle during the interaction with the SAPD officers. Afterward, he was thrown out of the vehicle and “violently” thrown to the ground before being handcuffed, according to the suit.
While on the ground and handcuffed, records indicate that one SAPD officer placed a foot on Castro’s head while others beat and kicked him repeatedly.
Castro was eventually placed in the back of an SAPD vehicle. The lawsuit argued that, without his consent and without a search warrant, officers searched through Castro’s vehicle but found “no illicit items.”
Castro was released without being criminally charged after being handcuffed for about two hours, the suit said.
According to the suit, the officers’ actions violated Castro’s Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights and were done without legal cause.