A deputy is now suing a woman who called for help during an emergency. It all stems from a deputy-involved shooting that happened in Katy last year.
The deputy says he was injured when she made that call from her subdivision. In this lawsuit, he claims the homeowner failed to adequately warn 9-1-1 of the dangerous situation he was walking into.
The lawsuit just filed in Harris County is raising some eyebrows.
Sheriff's deputy Brady Pullen is suing a woman named Camina Figueroa after a 9-1-1 call the deputy responded to at Figueroa's Katy home back in December.
The lawsuit claims Pullen was violently and physically attacked by a man who'd allegedly been using bath salts as a drug for several days.
"Look, it's unprecedented" Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia said. "So we're allowing our legal staff to manage this case and we'll see where it takes us."
Sheriff Garcia wouldn't say much about Pullen's civil lawsuit but called the filing by his deputy unprecedented.
In the court documents, Pullen alleges Figueroa was negligent because she knew the man's mental state rendered him a danger to others.
Pullen says he suffered a broken nose, concussion, lacerations and bruises when the man in Figueroa's house attacked him. That man was ultimately shot and killed after investigators say he reached for Pullen's gun.
The deputy's Austin-based attorney told me his team's operating under the theory that if someone is injured due to a homeowner or renter's failure to warn of dangerous circumstances, then you have a right to sue.
"The deputy should know, if it's a 9-1-1 call, the deputy has to know it is a dangerous situation," KTRK legal analyst Joel Androphy said.
Androphy calls Deputy Pullen's lawsuit frivolous.
"It sends a bad message out there. And if this lawsuit succeeds, it basically shuts down 9-1-1 calls to some degree, because people will be afraid if they make the call they are going to get sued. And the sheriff should not condone this type of action," Androphy said.
So far, Figueroa has not responded to our requests for comment.
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