The Associated Press
Santa Fe, N.M. (AP) -- A man facing charges of aggravated assault against undercover Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputies has sued the deputies, accusing them of starting an unprovoked firefight in which he was shot in the face.
Ben Maestas, in a lawsuit filed in state district court here, seeks unspecified damages for alleged civil rights violations and personal injuries related to the Jan. 30 confrontation. The lawsuit said he’s run up about $20,000 in medical bills.
Maestas, 21, is accused of firing at deputies with an assault rifle and was indicted last month on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The lawsuit, which names Sheriff Greg Solano and Deputies Ernest Romero and Edward Medina as defendants, alleged the deputies followed Maestas home after a road rage incident on U.S. 84-285, and opened fire first.
Solano has disputed that. He said reports he’s seen indicate Maestas fired first.
The lawsuit said the deputies were angered when a car driven by a friend of Maestas cut them off.
Maestas was not aware of being followed, and the deputies never identified themselves as law enforcement officers when they approached his home, the lawsuit said.
Maestas contends he fired with an AK-47 rifle only after the officers fired first.
The lawsuit said a trail of blood from his gunshot wound to the closet where the rifle is kept suggests Maestas was shot before he got the rifle and fired. It also said a lie detector test Maestas took corroborates his story.
“There would not have been any trouble ... if the defendants had simply identified themselves as police officers, and (Maestas) would not have been shot,” the lawsuit states.
The complaint also questions why the deputies did not call for backup after being shot at.
Maestas’ friend, Edwin Cano, called 911 during the shootout. The lawsuit said shots occurred in “indistinguishable bunches” on a recording of the call.
Investigators have not said which deputy fired the shot that hit Maestas. Both remain on the job.
Medina was hit in the thigh by bullet fragments, while Romero suffered a bruised eye, possibly by rocks spit up by ricocheting rounds, Solano has said.