Dying for Answers: Ray’s Story

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – Over 1,000 people across the country died in the last decade during encounters with law enforcement while officers were using less lethal force, such as a stun gun or different restraint techniques. At least two of those deaths happened in El Paso.

KTSM brought you the story of Daniel Diaz in September. He died after being tased and beaten by seven El Paso Police officers in April 2021. Now, thanks to a nationwide investigation by the Associated Press and PBS’ Frontline News documenting police use of force, we bring you the story of Ray Lara.

Just after 3:30 a.m. on the morning of July 28, 2020, UTEP Police responded to a call of a naked man running down Mesa Street near Sun Bowl Drive.

The caller told responding officers the man appeared to be in distress and kept saying, “They’re going to kill me.” He attempted to get into the passenger side of her car. In a report later released by the Texas Rangers, the woman explained she thought Lara possibly had schizophrenia because a family member had schizophrenia and displayed some of the same actions.

About ten minutes after the initial call, UTEP Police located Lara in a parking lot on Mesa, near the Village Inn and across from UTEP PD Headquarters. He was running naked and saying someone was chasing him. Visibly distressed, officers claim he was not listening to their orders and used a stun gun to immobilize him.

Officers eventually laid Lara on the ground and attempted to carry him to a police unit, and when he refused to get inside, they placed him on the ground on his stomach. After nearly seven minutes of struggling, he lay unresponsive.

The responding paramedics from the El Paso Fire Department arrived and began giving Lara CPR to no avail. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

INVESTIGATION

The autopsy report obtained by KTSM shows the cause of death as Acute Methamphetamine Toxicity with a contributing factor of Physiological Stress Associated with Physical Restraint.

“People who are who are very heavily intoxicated on methamphetamine, you know, their hearts pumping so fast that it’s not uncommon for the adrenaline that they raise that they inject into their system on top of the acute matter, meth, amphetamine intoxication to their body, their heart can’t handle the methamphetamine, plus the adrenaline that comes with a police interaction,” District Attorney Bill Hicks explained to KTSM.

Texas Rangers interviewed Lara’s sister, who told investigators she suspected he was using methamphetamine and had recently become paranoid someone was after him.

He’d moved into the nearby Mesa Inn hotel, where hotel staff described him as quiet, nervous, and passive. Lara told desk staff repeatedly, “The voices told me to,” and became agitated when explaining vents in the room were exposing him to smoke from what he believed were burning wires. After his death, investigators found his mattress against the room window and furniture rearranged.

The Associated Press’s efforts to obtain the full report and camera footage of the incident were met with pushback from the University. UTEP wrote to the Texas Attorney General’s office, arguing that they did not have to release the information to AP journalists.

Similar to the case of Daniel Diaz, whose family had to obtain a judge’s court order to compel El Paso Police to release video and documents in his 2021 death.

Dying for Answers: Danny’s Story

The Attorney General’s office ultimately decided that UTEP should release body camera footage, but it didn’t have to release specifics of its investigation into the officers’ conduct. However, the AG’s response to UTEP revealed “substantiated and unsubstantiated allegations” in their investigative report.

When KTSM reached out to UTEP about any misconduct or changes in police policy after the incident, we were sent a short statement from UTEP Officials stating,

The released documents from the Texas Rangers report also showed a significant discrepancy. In the state-mandated Custodial Death Report submitted by UTEP Police after Lara’s death, there is no mention of officers holding a knee to Lara’s back. The Ranger’s report states otherwise, “Officer Chairez stated he placed his knee in the middle of his back to gain control of him at which time the subject began kicking his feet and moving around under Officer.”

The District Attorney’s Office decides whether law enforcement officers are prosecuted for potential misconduct. However, there are many factors to consider when weighing the evidence.

“The case against the person who assaulted the officer is going to go to one set of prosecutors, and then the case against the officer is going to go to a different prosecutor so that we can, as much as possible, not have, you know, the bias of, hey, we’ve got to go get the bad guy and forgive the good guy. The unbiased look of the officers’ answers,” Hicks explained.

Hicks points out that their findings are presented to a Grand Jury for final review.

“If the assaultive conduct of the officer has resulted in harm to a citizen, then they review the case, make sure they have all the information they need, and then they take that case to a grand jury, “said Hicks.

In the case of Ray Lara, former District Attorney Yvonne Rosales, who was in office then, did not prosecute the UTEP officers.

According to the AP’s investigation, police rely on tactics such as physical holds, blows, and stun guns to restrain suspects, but if misused, those can turn deadly.

“They were just simply holding the person still. And it wasn’t that they had him in a neck hold. There weren’t restricting his breathing,” Hicks said of Lara’s case. “They weren’t doing anything other than trying to hold him still. And the person’s intoxication, along with the adrenaline rush, was too much for his body to handle. And he died.”

The suppression of information and lack of reports from local law enforcement agencies are all issues that the AP report states are clouding the overall reporting of people who have died during encounters with police – even those that were not supposed to be lethal.

“And so, you know, for me, we certainly will prosecute anyone who violates the law,” Hicks reiterated.

None of the seven El Paso Police officers involved in the death of Daniel Diaz’s case in 2021 faced consequences. The fate of the UTEP police officers is unknown.

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