Eyewitness: Deputy Constable Shot Unarmed Man

By ABC-7 Reporter Martin Bartlett

EL PASO — The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office and the Texas Rangerswere investigatingSunday to find out if a deputy constable justified when he shot Juan Ortegon, 34, Saturday night following a chase on the Eastside.

While it’s still unclear what exactly led up to last night’s shooting, Ortegon is facing one charge of aggravated assault against a public servant; one eyewitness tells ABC-7 Ortegon was unarmed and was running away when he was shot.

“He got shot and he just hit the ground and it didn’t make sense why he got shot,” said Alex de la Rosa, who saw the shooting take place.

“They stopped, and the guy gets out, and the cop comes out with a gun…. Personally, it didn’t look like the constable was in danger,” she said.

De la Rosa said she only saw one gun: “Just the one in the constable’s hand,I never saw one in the other guy’s hand,” she said. “(Ortegon) had his hands up, … it looked like he was trying to run away from him, not attack him.”

Sheriff’s investigators say that constable was Mario Ramos, 29, and if you watch ABC-7, that name’s probably familiar to you.

According to the I-Team archives, in February, Deputy Constable Ramos was accused of beating two men during a traffic stop; in 2007, he was diciplined by the Anthony (Texas) Police Department amid allegations of using excessive force on a traffic stop; in 2006, he resigned from the Texas Department of Public Safety to avoid facing discipline charges; and in 2005, he quit from the Socorro Police Department, again, amid allegations of using excessive force during a traffic stop.

“It does make you wonder what he’s doing or why this happened,” de la Rosa said.

Calls to Ramos’ home and to his boss, District 6 Constable Alex Gamboa, were not returned by newstime.