Eustacio Gallegos Dies After Being in Lynn County, Texas Jail

The Lynn County Sheriff’s Office, in Tahoka, Texas, filed a report regarding the custodial death of Eustacio Gallegos.  Mr. Gallegos was 73 years old at the time of his death.  We provide in this post information we obtained from that report, and we make no allegation of any wrongdoing against anyone regarding Mr. Gallegos’ death.

The custodial death report includes perhaps the shortest summary that our Texas jail abuse law firm has ever reviewed.  The summary portion of the report reads in its entirety, “Pending the results of Autopsy/Investigation.”  The report also indicates that Mr. Gallegos died in pre-custody after a use of force against him.  It further indicates that he had mental health problems and exhibited medical problems.

Obviously, with such ambiguous information, we have no idea what caused Mr. Gallegos’ death.  It is our experience that the Texas Rangers will generally investigate such a death, to determine whether there is any potential criminal liability.  Civil liability is separate from criminal liability, and civil liability can arise if a person’s constitutional rights are violated. In a use-of-force situation, the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the guarantee at issue.  If a person dies as a result of an unreasonable use of force, then certain surviving family members might be able to bring a lawsuit.

Written By: Dean Malone

Dean Malone

Dean Malone is the founder of Law Offices of Dean Malone, P.C., a jail neglect civil rights law firm. Mr. Malone earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Texas at Dallas, graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA, and from Baylor University School of Law with a general civil litigation concentration. Mr. Malone served in several staff positions for the Baylor Law Review, including executive editor. Mr. Malone is an experienced trial lawyer, trying a number of cases to jury verdict and also handling arbitrations through final hearing. He heads the jail neglect section of his law firm, in which lawyers litigate cases involving serious injury and death resulting from jail neglect and abuse. Lawyers frequently refer cases to Mr. Malone due to his focus on this very complicated civil rights practice area.