Espinoza’s suit claims city violated his freedoms of speech, assembly, privacy, due process

Former Kyle Police Sergeant Jesse Espinoza, indefinitely suspended from the force in May 2015 for insubordination, filed a suit against the City of Kyle last week in federal district court claiming the city violated his freedoms of speech, assembly, privacy and due process and asks for money from the city "in an amount sufficient to do substantial justice," the exact amount to be determined by the jury he is seeking to decide the case.

The suit argues these actions by the city are contrary to the First, Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which grants the U.S. District Court of Western District of Texas jurisdiction in the case.

The suit claims the city violated Espinoza’s freedom of speech by "discriminating against" him "based on the content and viewpoint of his speech," specifically by not sufficiently listening to Espinoza’s claims against Kyle Police Chief Jeff Barnett.

He is claiming the city violated his rights of privacy by issuing subpoenas to obtain cell phone records from both his and wife’s cell phones. In addition , the suit claims the city "fraudulently signed the name of the Hearing Examiner" to one of those subpoenas. "Kyle took advantage of the Hearing Examiner's failing health to its benefit and Plaintiff's detriment and harm," the suit claims..

The suit claims Espinoza was denied due process because the city dismissed him for actions that took place more than 180 days from the date on which he was suspended and that city never seriously looked at material Espinoza gave the city regarding Chief Barnett, information the suit describes as "a matter of importance and public concern." The city has argued that Espinoza was not dismissed because of incidents that occurred more than six months before his dismissal but because he lied immediately prior to his dismissal when he was questioned about those incidents.

The suit fails to describe how the city violated his right of assembly.

Espinoza appealed his suspension and an arbitration hearing, presided over by Examiner Michael McReynolds, began Sept. 29, 2015 and ended a year ago tomorrow. However, McReynolds died of cancer Feb. 29, before he could render a decision on the case.

Although the city has yet to post any official confirmation of this, I have heard a second arbitration hearing on Espinoza’s appeal is scheduled to begin next week. There is also no word on whether Espinoza’s federal lawsuit will have any impact on the arbitration re-hearing. The Kyle City Council did spend almost an hour discussing the lawsuit in executive session Tuesday evening during its regularly scheduled meeting.

The entire episode reads like the plot of a Grace Metalious novel. A few, but definitely not all, of its more lurid details can be found in this story that appeared a week ago in the Austin American-Statesman along with this one published in May, and especially this one that appeared last May in the Austin Chronicle. Happy reading.

I would have asked the City for its response to the lawsuit but having dealt with these matters of this kind for many more years than I dare to count, I know in advance the city's response would be it doesn't comment on matters in litigation.