Pub owner, officer to pay damages in fatal shooting

Lawsuit alleges lawman was drunk when he shot man in 2011 incident

The parent company of a River Oaks pub and the Houston police officer who fatally shot a man in the bar’s parking lot four years ago will financially compensate the three children who lost their father with a $200,000 settlement.

While off-duty in February 2011, Houston Police Department Officer Jose Coronado killed 29-yearold Omar Ventura while intervening in an altercation outside Sherlock’s Baker Street Pub and Grill on West Gray.

The mother of Ventura’s three children, Rosa Rodriguez, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of his estate in 2012 against the city of Houston, Coronado and Hospitality USA — which previously included that Sherlock’s location in its portfolio.

The lawsuit accused the officer of being “drunk” when he “shot Omar and Rolando without provocation” and asserted that Ventura and his brother were involved in the fight because they “were coming to the rescue of a young woman an unknown patron was threatening and harassing.”

The complaint also alleged that Coronado violated the brothers’ constitutional rights by using “excessive and deadly force” and said that the city had liability for failing to properly train HPD officers who are “essentially always on-duty.” The filing said the bar was negligent by breaching its responsibility to “keep its premises in a reasonably safe condition for its patrons.”

The lawsuit also described an alleged moment when police officers “yanked” Rodriguez out of the ambulance where her husband was bleeding from his abdomen.

The city was excluded as a defendant last year. The remaining parties settled with the family during a mediation conference in

October 2014 and, since then, have been hammering out details to compensate the children for their loss.

Settlement reached

In separate motions this month, Hospitality USA and Coronado asked U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes to deposit funds in the court’s registry “to be placed in some form of interest-bearing account, pending final resolution of the matter.”

Hughes approved a $200,000 deposit from Hospitality USA and $4,000 from the officer.

According to a final judgment, the payout will provide $48,000 for each child, $1,500 for four adult plaintiffs including Rodriguez and Rolando Ventura and cover the family’s legal fees.

Houston Police Officers’ Union staff attorney Chad Hoffman, who represents Coronado, and the restaurant’s lawyers did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Sean Greenwood, legal counsel for Rodriguez, said he was not authorized by his clients to speak about the settlement.

Fight at the bar

After the shooting, Coronado told HPD investigators that Ventura said he had a gun and reached for his waistband during the tussle. Ventura’s brother, Rolando, was shot in the arm by the officer.

Coronado, who admitted that he had been drinking at the bar, was suspended with pay following the incident. In October 2011, a Harris County grand jury cleared him of murder and aggravated assault charges.

According to HPD spokesman John Cannon, Coronado remains on active duty with the South Central patrol.