Kayleigh Sommer | Valley
Morning Star
SAN BENITO — A lawsuit has been
filed against the city of San Benito accusing local police and city officials
of false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, conspiracy, negligence and
intentional infliction of emotional distress.
San Benito resident Alfonso
Benavides filed the lawsuit May 7 in the 357th state District Court in
Brownsville.
Named as defendants are the
city of San Benito, then-Mayor Joe H. Hernandez, City Manager Manuel Lara,
Police Chief Martin Morales Jr., Assistant Police Chief Michael Galvan, Officer
Greg Monroe, Detective Michael Cortez and Sgt. Isaac Vasquez.
Other defendants named are
Justice of the Peace David Garza and another San Benito resident, according to
the lawsuit.
Benavides claims in the lawsuit
that the defendants conspired together to arrest him in May 2012 after the
police said the parent of a runaway boy, then 14, complained that Benavides was
housing the boy at his Combes Street home.
Benavides was charged with a
Class A misdemeanor of harboring a runaway child and was jailed at the
Carrizalez-Rucker Detention Center in Olmito on $3,000 bond.
Those charges were later
dismissed.
Benavides is seeking $1 million
in damages on each of the five counts, alleging he suffered mental anguish,
physical pain and suffering, and depression.
Former City Attorney Janice
Cassidy, Benavides’ legal counsel, was unavailable for comment Wednesday.
Attorney Ricardo Navarro of
Harlingen, San Benito’s legal counsel, said, “We don’t really comment on
pending litigation.”
In January 2012, Benavides
filed a complaint that led to a two-count indictment against Hernandez,
charging him with abuse of official capacity and tampering with evidence. The
first charge was dismissed after a one-year pretrial diversion and the
tampering charge was dismissed outright.
Hernandez was acquitted of
another charge last year after he was accused of threatening Benavides and former
City Commissioner Ricardo Rodriguez.
Hernandez has repeatedly denied
accusations that he threatened to burn down Rodriguez’s house last October.
When contacted Wednesday,
Hernandez said the lawsuit is “regarding the city and I prefer not to comment.”
Attempts to reach Lara by phone
were unsuccessful.
