An Arizona man who says a “swatting” call ended with deputies’ bullets leaving him partially paralyzed is now demanding $176 million from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.
Axeel Melendez, 24, and his mother, Carmen Melendez, recently filed a notice of claim against the Pima County Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff Chris Nanos, signaling their intent to sue, according to Arizona Public Media.
Dev Sethi, who is representing Melendez, told the outlet that the man and his mother were swatted, prompting a massive law enforcement response at their house. Swatting is a criminal prank where individuals place fake calls to 911 for a specific location with the goal of getting a law enforcement response to that location.
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“Our justice system recognizes the dignity of a human life and the importance of the completeness of your body. Axeel’s health, his independence, his ability to earn a living, his sense of security, that’s all been stolen away from him,” Sethi said.
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Someone impersonating Melendez initially called 311, a non-emergency number, on April 10 and said his father shot his sister, giving the address for Melendez.
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“This morning of the April 10 call has many red flags and hallmarks of it being a fake call, including…this call came into 311. Nobody reporting an emergency calls 311,” Sethi said.
Sethi said the call was made from an out of state area code and added the caller didn’t pronounce Melendez’s first name correctly.
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Melendez received a threatening message from a hacker who stole his personal information during an online video game and demanded a ransom to return his accounts and passwords, his attorney said, even threatening to report him to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement because of his Hispanic name.
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After the threat, Melendez called 911 and shared his concerns about a possible swatting incident and was allegedly reassured there are safeguards.
“He tells a 911 operator all of this and she essentially downplays it and says, ‘Don’t worry, that’s not how it works. They can’t just call 911 and have the SWAT team show up at your house,” Sethi said.
According to the attorney, Pima County deputies allegedly ignored a warning that Melendez’s address was a known possible swatting target, stating that she approached the home with a mindset to “treat it like it’s real until it’s not real.”
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Believing an intruder was breaking in, Melendez grabbed his family’s legally owned handgun and took cover behind his bedroom door as deputies smashed through the window, according to the claim. The deputies then allegedly opened fire.
Melendez says he was hit in his right thigh and left shoulder, which left him with a spinal court injury in addition to broken ribs and a broken leg.
“He did everything we teach our kids to do. When you’re in danger, when somebody’s threatening you, what’s the first thing we tell all of our children? Call the police,” Sethi said. “Axeel is a vulnerable young man, his life has been upended. He has real present needs and we’ve given them an opportunity to do the right thing and resolve the case, but the ball is wholly in their courts.”
