Guard sues deputy, sheriff’s office over tasing

Lawsuit says there was ‘absolutely no need for force’ in situation and that the tasing was humiliating

A Rio Arriba County jail guard who was tased in the groin by a sheriff ’s deputy in June is suing the deputy, the sheriff ’s office and the county.

Corrections Officer Timothy Gallegos — who is only identified by his initials in the complaint filed Tuesday in state District court — says in the complaint he has suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and “interference of intimacy caused by the shock to his genitals.”

According to the complaint, Gallegos was tased June 3 by Rio Arriba County Sheriff ’s Deputy Leon Gallegos after the deputy drove his patrol vehicle to the gate outside the jail in Tierra Amarilla and honked for entry.

The two men share the same last name but are not related, the complaint says.

When the corrections officer went to open the gate, he says in his complaint, he told the deputy “in an offhand manner: stop honking your horn at my jail. Deputy Gallegos responded: this isn’t your jail.”

The deputy then pulled out a Taser — which the complaint claims he was not yet trained to

use — pointed it at the guard and “shot him in the genitals.”

The jail guard “immediately fell to the ground in excruciating pain,” according to his lawsuit. “No reasonable officer confronting a situation where there is absolutely no need for force would have deployed the Taser X2 in so reckless a manner.”

A spokesman for the sheriff ’s office said at the time the tasing was “accidental” and that some “horseplay” may have been involved.

But the guard says in his complaint “there was no horseplay” between the two men.

Rather, the lawsuit says, Rio Arriba County Sheriff James Lujan “has created a work environment ripe for male-on-male sexual harassment by cultivating a culture of toxic masculinity between himself and county employees.”

The lawsuit accuses the county, Lujan and Deputy Gallegos of violating the jail guard’s civil rights by subjecting him to excess force, deliberate indifference and sexual harassment.

Timothy Gallegos seeks an unspecified amount in damages for “physical injuries, emotional distress, pain and suffering, humiliation, indignities, loss of sexual intimacy and loss of enjoyment of life,” and special damages for evaluation and therapy to treat those injuries, as well as punitive damages and legal costs.

The Rio Arriba County Sheriff ’s Office is also facing a lawsuit filed by the mother of a 15-yearold Española Valley High School special-education student who was tased in the chest on campus in May by former Rio Arriba County Sheriff ’s Deputy Jeremy Barnes.

Neither the Rio Arriba County attorney nor the spokesman for the sheriff ’s office returned calls seeking comment on the jail guard’s lawsuit.