Settlement reached in lawsuit against city, SMPD

A lawsuit brought by a San Marcos man who was tased by a former San Marcos Police Department sergeant was settled out of court this week for $125,000.

According to Rebecca Webber, attorney for the plaintiff Albian Leyva, the case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division.

Leyva had sued the city of San Marcos and former SMPD Sgt. Ryan Hartman, alleging that he was tased for no reason in connection to an incident that occurred in January 2021.

Following the announcement of the settlement, Webber said, “The way these settlement papers work, the officers take no responsibility and admit nothing. The city takes no responsibility and admits nothing. However, the city gave us a check of $125,000.”

As first reported by the Caldwell/Hay's Examiner and Jordan Buckley, the tasing incident involved Hartman, who was also involved in an on-duty motor vehicle collision that took the life of Jennifer Miller in 2020–a death for which he was not charged. His actions while a member of the force were also a catalyst for concerned citizens to launch a petition drive that led to a repeal of a previously approved Meet and Confer Agreement in February, established a fresh round of negotiations to draw up a new Meet and Confer agreement which the city council approved in its regular meeting Tuesday, despite continued frustration expressed by the public that additional reforms needed to be included.

The tasing incident that was the subject of the lawsuit occurred on Jan. 12, 2021.

Webber said that Leyva “never had any interaction with the police before or since [the incident]. He just was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

She said that Leyva was a passenger in a vehicle that was stopped by San Marcos police where the driver of the vehicle was “a friend of a friend.” The driver of the vehicle, unbeknownst to Leyva, allegedly had stolen cell phone chargers from a gas station prior to the traffic stop.

“He gets out of the car during the traffic stop. Being his very obedient self, he’s standing with his hands raised. The police are shouting all kinds of demands which are confusing, so he takes his phone out to film the interaction as is his right,” Webber said, adding that Sgt. Hartman at this point said he was going to tase Leyva and no other officer stops the tasing. At this point, Hartman did tase the unarmed and in the video captured by the plaintiff’s phone at the scene, a compliant Leyva.

“The video of it is shocking,” Webber said. “A completely compliant, nice young man with his hands up, and the sergeant [who] didn’t like being filmed, electrocutes him.”

Leyva’s phone sustained damage when he fell to the ground after being tased, but the video was recovered from the device.

According to Webber, Leyva is glad to have the case behind him.

“He never asked to be a spokesperson for accountability and transparency, and he’s just really happy to move on with his life,” Webber said.

The city of San Marcos responded to the settlement action, stating, “the San Marcos Police Department has adopted policies that emphasize accountability, promote de-escalation, and minimize the risk of conflict or injury to officers and community members. The officer involved in this incident did not act according to policy and training and was disciplined as a result. While the city maintains its position of non-liability, we are pleased that a mutually agreeable resolution has been reached, which will enable all parties involved to move forward.”

Webber said that the Hartman Reforms “would be a great first step” in mending the frayed bond between SMPD and the community. The Hartman reforms were meant to be changes to the meet and confer negotiations between the city and the San Marcos Police Association. “We’ll see how much stomach they have to keep paying out on these, but at some point it's not a very good use of taxpayer money to pay big settlements instead of just cleaning up your business,” Webber