BCSO deputy sued for shooting man after pursuit
Mother of car theft suspect alleges shooting was due to poor training
The mother of a man killed after a pursuit on July 4 by Bernalillo County Deputy Charles Coggins filed a lawsuit Wednesday contending the shooting was “excessive, unreasonable and unnecessary.”
In a lawsuit against Coggins, the Bernalillo County Commission and Sheriff Manuel Gonzales, Concepcion Gonzales argues that lethal force against her son was unjustified and that the county and sheriff were negligent in Coggins’ hiring, training, supervision and discipline.
Coggins would go on to fire his weapon during two more on-duty incidents over the next four months. He is on active duty with the department.
According to the Bernalillo
County Sheriff’s Office, deputies started to follow 28-yearold Miguel Gonzales near Arenal and Coors after learning the red Monte Carlo he was driving had a stolen license plate.
Gonzales drove to a nearby neighborhood, where he hopped out of the car and ran to a home on Desert Morning SW. He was shot while in the backyard of the home at some point after he produced a gun, according to BCSO.
The lawsuit, likely the first filed in connection to recent BCSO shootings, claims Miguel Gonzales was “shot in the back multiple times and killed.”
A sheriff’s office spokeswoman would not comment on the suit or its allegations.
The lawsuit also claims that lethal force was not necessary under the circumstances and that Coggins failed to warn the man that he intended to use deadly force.
BCSO rules and regulations require that “where feasible, some warning should be given prior to engaging in the use of deadly force.”
The lawsuit argues that Coggins’ “use of excessive force when less, and non-lethal force was required” indicate that he was not properly trained and supervised by the sheriff and county.
Concepcion Gonzales is a single mother and Miguel helped her raise his younger brother, she says in the suit. They lived together for his entire life, shared household expenses and chores, and together cared for Miguel’s three young sons when they stayed with him.
Their last name is spelled Gonzalez in some references in the suit.
“There’s nothing worse than losing your child,” her attorney David Plotsky said. “And they (had) an exceptionally close mother-and-son relationship.”
Concepcion Gonzales is seeking an award of damages to compensate her for her loss of consortium. Plotsky said she is pursuing the case on behalf of her three grandsons, ages 7, 10 and 11.
Spokeswomen for the sheriff’s office and the county said they could not comment on the pending case. Attorneys for the defendants did not immediately enter their appearances.
The lawsuit comes as Sheriff Manuel Gonzales faces increasing criticism from civil rights groups and attorneys over his opposition to outfitting his deputies with body cameras. He has said that evidence recorded during police encounters is used “against agencies for the adjudication of cases.”
Bernalillo County deputies have been involved in nine shootings — five of them fatal — over the past four months.
Coggins has been with the department for five years. According to BCSO, he shot and injured a second man, an auto burglary suspect later determined to be unarmed, on July 25. And in October, he fired five times at a man carrying a BB gun whom he’d mistaken for a suspect in an aggravated assault, but did not hit him.
He also fired his weapon in June 2014 when, he said, a suspect drove toward him and three other deputies.