A flier posted after Alex Gonzales Jr.’s death in 2021 (Photo by John Anderson)

The city of Austin is set to stand trial on June 23 in a civil lawsuit where plaintiffs argue that the city allowed a “culture of impunity” at the Austin Police Department that contributed to an off-duty officer’s decision to shoot a man following a road rage incident in 2021.

The lawsuit was brought by two sets of plaintiffs – the mother of Alex Gonzales Jr., the man who was shot by the off-duty officer and later killed by a second, on-duty officer and Jessica Arellano, Gonzales’ girlfriend who was also shot by the off-duty officer. But only one of the plaintiffs, Gonzales’ mother Elizabeth, is set to go to trial.

The trial date follows a decision by U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman, who is presiding over the case, which cleared the way for the two sets of plaintiffs to take the city itself to trial over the shooting – a rare move in police brutality cases.

Pitman’s decision centered on the argument put forth by one of the plaintiff attorneys that alleges the off-duty officer shot Gonzales and Arellano because he may have felt that APD would not thoroughly investigate or discipline his conduct. To support this argument, the plaintiffs pointed to several outside reports that highlighted deficiencies within APD’s internal misconduct investigative process, as well as testimony from former police chiefs and an Internal Affairs investigator.

Taken together, Pitman wrote, the plaintiffs presented “sufficient evidence to show that the city had a practice of permitting excessive force by under-investigating and under-disciplining the majority of officers who engaged in excessive force.”

Arellano, the other plaintiff in the case, has reached a tentative settlement with the city over her claims, per a motion submitted to the court by her attorney, Jeff Edwards. The document does not list any of the terms of the settlement, but it will likely include monetary compensation, as is typical with civil rights lawsuits brought against police officers and the municipalities that employ them.

The incident began with a road rage incident between Gonzales and Gabriel Gutierrez, the off-duty officer who is also expected to stand trial in the suit. Gutierrez claims Gonzales pointed a gun at him after the two men met on the road after midnight on Jan. 5, 2021. Their interaction prompted the officer to fire into Gonzales’ car multiple times, shooting Gonzales in the head and Arellano in her back, shoulder, and arm.

After Gutierrez dialed 911, Luis Serrato, an APD officer on patrol nearby, arrived on scene. Serrato and another officer yelled commands at Gonzales urging the injured man to stop as he stumbled to the backseat of the car where his and Arellano’s infant son sat. Serrato testified that he did know a child was in the car, but that Gutierrez told him Gonzales was armed.

After Gonzales opened the car’s rear door and began reaching inside, Serrato fired 10 shots at Gonzales, hitting him multiple times. Later, investigators found a firearm under the front seat of Gonzales car, but it was not ready to fire. In 2022, a Travis County grand jury declined to indict either officer on criminal charges and a year later, Austin’s police chief at the time, Joseph Chacon, declined to discipline the officers. Last month, Pitman dismissed Serrato from the case, ruling that his shooting of Gonzales was justified.

According to Arellano’s motion during which her tentative settlement was announced, City Council is expected to approve the deal at their May 8 meeting. Edwards and the city both declined to provide comment for this story. Donald Puckett, Gonzales’ attorney, also declined to comment.