A Harris County sheriff's deputy is suing the family of a man he shot and killed when assisting on a call last December, saying they failed to warn emergency personnel and law enforcement that the man was a "violent threat."
Deputy Brady Pullen is seeking $200,000 from relatives of Kemal Yazar, who authorities said confronted EMS workers who responded to a 911 call at a Katy home. The man's wife, authorities said then, had told EMS that Yazar was acting irrationally.
Two deputies, including Pullen, who were called to help struggled with Yazar and used a Taser on him, officials said then. Both deputies fired shots at him, killing him. Pullen was injured and taken to a hospital for treatment of a concussion, cuts and a bite.
The Dec. 30 incident occurred at the home on Shiloh Mist owned by Camina Figueroa, who is solely named in the lawsuit. Pullen said Figueroa failed to "adequately warn others that her resident or guest Kemal Yazar posed a violent threat to others."
The lawsuit, filed by Austin attorney Mark W. Long, states that Yazar "had been either smoking or ingesting a drug commonly called 'bath salts' or some other mind-altering substance for days."
He was so mentally unstable that "defendant (Figueroa) decided to evacuate the children for safety reasons" before calling 911, the lawsuit states.
'An unarmed man'
When the deputies arrived, according to the lawsuit, Yazar attacked Pullen and tried to grab his service weapon. Yazar "was shot and killed in the process."
Corina Padilla, Figueroa's cousin, offered a different version of events.
She said that Yazar, 46, was suffering from stress and depression and had drunk some tea that caused him to have hallucinations.
"At no moment did Kemal assault the officer," she said. "An unarmed man, a family guy, father and husband of three girls was killed. He had no criminal record. He was self-employed in import-export of very expensive rugs from Turkey and Persia."
Padilla called the lawsuit "outrageous," saying that Pullen "could have prevented it from happening, but he murdered our family member. Not only that, but he has the audacity to sue for money because he got injured when he was responding to the call."
Understood risk
Legal scholar T. Gerald Treece said the lawsuit likely would not prevail because of the understood risks involved in law-enforcement.
"I predict it will lose on summary judgment because with law-enforcement, firemen and soldiers, there's an inherent risk doctrine that when things happen to you, it is the inherent risk of your profession," said Treece, associate dean and professor of law at South Texas School of Law.
"What was she (Figueroa) supposed to do? She got it right," he said. "She said the guy needed help. She did not have a duty under Texas law to go any further. She was calling to get help for this guy."
Should the lawsuit prevail in the courts, it would run the risk of discouraging people from calling 911 to get emergency help, Treece said.
Damages sought
Pullen's lawsuit seeks damages for past and future medical expenses, past and future mental anguish, physical disfigurement and impairment, future and past pain and suffering, and loss of earning capacity.
Long, Pullen's attorney, declined to comment about the lawsuit, as did officials at the Harris County Sheriff's Office.
Pullen could not be reached for comment at the Westside Patrol Division.
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