An Austin attorney hopes a federal lawsuit would shed light on the 2020 in-custody death of 27-year-old Armando Mascorro, according to a report from Austin ABC affiliate KVUE.
Robert Ranco, who practices with DC Law, asserted to the station that efforts to get the Bastrop County Sheriff's Office (BCSO) to provide information about Mascorro's death while in its custody were futile, thus prompting the decedent's surviving family to pursue legal action.
"We've had very little luck getting transparency and cooperation from the folks in Bastrop County,” Ranco told KVUE. “And when you don't get cooperation or transparency, we're forced to file a lawsuit at this time because we're hoping that we can create more transparency, more sharing, more accountability by way of litigation."
KVUE reported that Bastrop County deputies arrested Mascorro and – according to the legal complaint that was filed last Wednesday (May 11) – proceeded to assault him, as well as drag him with a horse.
Mascorro succumbed to his injuries at an Austin hospital, per the station.
His mother, Eunice Prieto Molina, told KVUE through an interpreter that while he struggled with mental health and addiction issues, he was a happy and good man.
“My son, people who didn't know him, because there were a lot of people who knew him, knew he was very for everything," she said, according to the station. "I don't know, very happy, my son. Outside of the problem he had with addiction, let’s say, he was a very good man.”
KVUE reported that the suit implicates six BCSO deputies, three Elgin Police Department (EPD) patrol personnel and a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) state trooper.
According to the station, Chris Noble, one of the Elgin officers named in court papers, now leads the department.
The defendants reportedly haven't responded to the litigation.
Austin NBC affiliate KXAN reported that the suit explains that the the Travis County medical examiner deemed Mascorro's death a homicide by blunt force trauma but a spokesperson with the medical examiner's office told the station that a "law enforcement objection" prevents it from releasing information.