Deputies appeal case of shooting exercising man calling 911
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This screengrab shows Ronald Smith sitting on the ground while a Sheriff

Ronald Smith is seen sitting on the ground while a sheriff’s deputy points a gun at him (WXAN).

Two police officers are seeking immunity from the nation’s most conservative appeals court regarding an excessive force lawsuit initiated by a man they shot in the head with pepper bullets while he was seated cross-legged on a grassy area outside a Texas cemetery.

The entire incident was caught on body camera video, but the officers insist their actions were reasonable and protected by law.

Law&Crime spoke at length with Andres Cano, the attorney for Ronald Smith.

Cano explained that his client was an enthusiastic exerciser who, during the COVID-19 pandemic, enjoyed going to the countryside for extended periods to work out and clear his mind. According to Cano’s recent filing, on June 27, 2021, Smith was exercising along a grassy easement adjacent to Highway 46 in Guadalupe County, Texas, when a police officer in an official vehicle “veered off the road and nearly hit” him.

According to Cano, Smith responded by giving the officer “the finger”—the commonly known gesture of raising his middle finger—then continued his exercise without worry. Nevertheless, Cano stated that Smith noticed the officer passed by him numerous times afterward in his police vehicle. Smith later sat on a grassy embankment near a cemetery to call his wife for a ride home when, as detailed in Smith’s brief, he “observed two well-built officers approaching him with guns drawn and pointed at him.”

The deputies — Guadalupe County Sheriff Deputies Hunter Saenz and Jimmy Gonzales — allegedly “menaced Smith with pointed firearms, struck Smith with a pepper round in the head, football smashed Smith on the ground, and leaped on his back with their knees on his neck and head,” all while Smith sat cross-legged on the ground with one hand in the air and the other working his cellphone.

Cano told Law&Crime that when Smith saw the officers approach him with guns drawn, he called 911 dispatchers on his cellphone.

“I have two people pulling a gun on me,” Smith can be seen yelling in the video. The officers then switched to pepper guns, and one shot Smith in the head with pepper balls.

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