A truck driver who was tased and wrongfully arrested back 2014 has won a $100,000 settlement from the county and sheriff’s office.
The settlement was announced on Monday, June 26th, between Victoria County, Texas and the victim, 60-year-old truck driver Guadalupe Perez.
According to the Victoria Advocate, back in October 2014, Perez was traveling on US 59 when Sheriff Deputy Daniel Bettes, 46, attempted to pull him over after “witnessing the 18-wheeler traveling in front of another deputy at a considerably slower speed than the posted 75 mph.”
The officer claimed the tractor trailer was “impeding the deputy’s travel.”
After approaching the cab of the truck, Sheriff Bettes’ said that he found Perez with “a facial expression of anger and his fists were clenched.”
The officer reportedly entered the trucker’s cab with his firearm drawn and pulled the driver out by his shirt.
Perez was then tased twice and arrested for suspicion of evading arrest.
“I again ordered him from his vehicle as I drew my weapon. I told him to step down and reached for his shirt. As I reached for his shirt, he slapped my hand away as vehicles traveling at highway speeds passed within several feet of me. I grabbed his shirt with my left hand and holstered my weapon, ordering him to get out. Perez tried to push back into cab at the same time he grabbed my arm. I drew and deployed my Taser. I extracted Perez from the cab and onto the ground and the Taser barbs became dislodged and he attempted to push up as I ordered him to place his arms behind his back,” the officer’s statement reads.
Once released from jail, Perez was taken to a hospital with injuries on his head sustained from the arrest.
“He got in my cab and pointed his gun at me for no reason, and then he pulled me out of the cab,” Perez explained. “I don’t know what was wrong with him. I don’t know why he acted that way.”
Photo of Daniel Bettes via the Victoria Advocate
Bettes had parked his vehicle in front of the tractor trailer during the altercation, aiming the dash cam away from the scene and leaving very little concrete evidence for what happened.
“This is absolutely, clearly abuse of his authority,” said Perez’s lawyer, Bobby Garcia. “Why he would do these sorts of things to people, it’s absolutely beyond me.”
One month after the incident, Bettes was fired from the Sheriff’s department after an internal investigation. It was later discovered that he had been fired by his previous law enforcement agency for acting “surly” with citizens and running personal errands while on the clock.
In 2016, Bettes pleaded guilty to criminal charges of official oppression, a class A misdemeanor. As a result of the criminal case, Bettes was ordered to surrender his peace officer’s license, and serve 200 hours of community service.
In June 2017, Victoria County offered to settle the civil case with Perez and agreed to pay the driver $100,000.
Although the case against the county and sheriff’s office has now been settled, Garcia says that this is not the end. Garcia and Perez are working on a civil lawsuit against Bettes himself.
“My client is looking forward to getting this thing behind him, but let’s let the people of Victoria County make a profound statement to all of the people that abuse their authority,” Garcia added.