According to a Feb. 6, 2020, report, two lawsuits are being filed on behalf of Asuncion J. Gomez-Guerrero, who was killed last year.
The lawsuits are being filed against Waukegan, Illinois, and its police department. Gomez-Guerrero, 35, was shot by a Waukegan police officer on Feb. 3, 2019.
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Gomez-Guerrero was turning his car away from the police officers who were answering a call at his home. However, Officer Rolando Villafuerte kept standing in front of the vehicle.
The lawsuit says that a “reasonably trained police officer” would have known that Gomez-Guerrero only meant to move the car away from the police officer and was not a threat. The complaint also states that the car was moving slowly.
However, when Gomez-Guerrero tried to exit the car, Villafuerte pointed a gun at him.
Villafuerte, who has worked for the Waukegan Police Department for the past two decades, released three shots into Gomez-Guerrero’s Honda. Then, the car crashed into a telephone pole.
Emergency medical services then took Gomez-Guerrero to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, Illinois. He later died at the medical center.
Paige McEwan, Gomez-Guerrero’s girlfriend, also filed a lawsuit on Jan. 31 of this year against the police department. McEwan was in the car during the shooting. She believes that Villafuerte used too much force. She also believes that his actions were “outrageous,” stating that the officers were not concerned about her medical needs.