On a hot June day, Veronica Ordaz Gonzalez was eating ice cream with her family inside her southeast Fresno home when sheriff’s deputies showed up with guns drawn.
What happened next is the subject of a civil rights trial that begins Sept. 12 in Fresno County Superior Court. The family contends sheriff’s deputies handcuffed them at gunpoint in June 2018, entered their home without a warrant, and shot and killed their beloved dog, Scooby.
Fresno attorney Nolan Kane represents Gonzalez, 34, her father, Roberto Perez, 64, her brother, Omar Perez, 27, and her boyfriend, Jose Ramos Santiago, 37. They are seeking damages for false imprisonment, battery, violation of civil rights and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Superior Court Judge Kimberly A. Gaab has already ruled in their favor, rejecting the Sheriff’s Office attempt to dismiss the lawsuit. The defendants are Sgt. James Dunn and Deputies Courtney Bush, Jeffrey Morse, Colleen Santos and Isaac Cervantes. They are represented by Fresno attorneys James Weakley and Leslie Dillahunty.
