Man gives account of shooting by NLV officer

Keith Paul

Monday, Aug. 27, 2001 | 10:53 a.m.

Celso Paz Lopez shifted uneasily in a chair in his attorney's office as he spoke about the pain from being shot in the hip by a North Las Vegas Police officer and about claims -- he says are false -- that he grabbed the officer's gun.

"I was handcuffed, and then I was shot," Paz Lopez told the Sun last week through an interpreter. "I was on the ground, and I was shot. I felt blood coming out of me. They made me look like I was one of the bad guys."

North Las Vegas City Council recently approved a $500,000 payout to Paz Lopez to settle any claims. Paz Lopez got his check last week, then spoke to the Sun.

No one disputes Paz Lopez was shot with two bullets from Officer Dave Acosta's submachine gun about 12:10 a.m. on March 11, 2000, on Soledad Way near Carey Avenue and Pecos Road.

But Paz Lopez disputes Acosta's claim he grabbed the officer's gun before the shooting. And his version is backed, at least in part, by another officer's statement, which was among documents related to the case released to the Sun late last week.

Several officers had responded to Soledad Way after reports of shots being fired on March 11, 2000. Paz Lopez said he was at a friend's house for a party, and guns were fired in the back yard during the celebration. He encountered the police as he was walking away from the house in the street and was detained.

Officer Alex Perez told investigators the morning of the shooting that he had struggled to get one of the suspects on the ground and handcuff him after the man would not remove his hand from his waistband.

"It should be noted that during this altercation, the subject never removed his right hand from under his clothes at his waistband into plain view," Perez said in the statement. "I was able to take hold of his left arm and place it behind his back."

At that time Paz Lopez was shot twice. The bullets from Acosta's submachine gun struck the 22-year-old man in the hip and buttock, causing extensive injuries that have needed several surgeries to repair.

Acosta said in his statement he fired after Paz Lopez took his right arm from under his body and grabbed the gun. According to Acosta's statement, he said Paz Lopez was pulling the gun toward his lower back, and he fired when he could not free the gun from Paz Lopez' grasp.

When the shot was fired, Perez said in his statement, he thought Paz Lopez had shot himself. The officer suspected Paz Lopez might have had a gun, since he wouldn't show his hands.

Paz Lopez was not armed, and no weapons were found near him.

After an investigation, a use-of-force board referred the case to internal affairs.

On May 12, 2000, before Chief Joey Tillmon announced whether any discipline would be imposed, Acosta resigned from the department. Police would not release any information from the use-of-force board inquiry or the internal investigation, saying they had been directed by City Attorney Sean McGowan not to comment.

However, in a memo to a North Las Vegas detective, Acosta wrote that he was informed by the board the shooting was ruled unjustified.

In April Acosta was hired by the King County Sheriff's Office in Washington after two sheriff's detectives reviewed the case file and came to a different conclusion.

"We determined this was a justified shooting, and the man grabbed the gun," said Sgt. John Urquart, a King County Sheriff's Office spokesman. "Before we hired him, we looked into it."

Paz Lopez' attorney, Justin Clouser, said it bothers him that Acosta was able to become a police officer again and that King County investigators determined the shooting was justified.

For his part, Paz Lopez, a landscaper from Mexico, said he plans to return to Mexico soon and doesn't know if he will ever be back.

The cash settlement, he said, doesn't make up for being shot, then having police try to shift the blame to him.

"I've never been in trouble," he said. "They should really be telling the truth about what happened."

The shooting not only harmed Paz Lopez physically, but family members say they have seen his personality change.

"He's a lot more nervous," Gerardo Lopez, Paz Lopez' brother, said. "He doesn't even trust his own body. He feels afraid he'll have a problem again."

Paz Lopez said no one has ever apologized to him. At this point he doesn't expect an apology and really doesn't want one now.

"In some ways I want it to happen to him (Acosta) so he knows how much pain I felt," Paz Lopez said. "That way he'll know what he did to me."