9 years after a UIW police officer shot student Cameron Redus, the case is going to trial – San Antonio Express-News

The Fourth Court of Appeals on Friday affirmed a lower courts decision denying the University of the Incarnate Words request to quash a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from the 2013 shooting of a student by a campus police officer.

Brent Perry, the Houston lawyer representing the family of Robert Cameron Redus, said Friday that he was pleased with the ruling, and absent something unusual happening in the next two months, the suit can proceed.

A trial is currently set for Sept. 19 in state district court in San Antonio.

We have to go to trial, Perry said. That shooting was unjustified.

RELATED: UIW says student slain by campus officer was irresponsible

Margaret Garcia, UIW director of university communications and brand marketing, acknowledged via email Friday the court had concluded that in their opinion there are factual issues which must be presented to a jury.

She added that UIW is preparing to proceed forward with the trial.

Valerie Redus (center) joined by her husband, Mickey, fights back tears while reading aloud a journal entry from her deceased son, Cameron, during a candlelight vigil to mark the three-year anniversary of his death in front of the University of the Incarnate Word on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016.

Redus, 23, who went by Cameron, had reached his off-campus apartment building when his pickup was stopped by Cpl. Christopher Carter, who had suspected Redus of driving drunk near the university early on Dec. 6, 2013.

Carter reported that Redus fought him when he attempted an arrest, and after a prolonged struggle in which Redus got control of his baton and struck him with it he shot the student multiple times.

The appeals panel agreed that the university could not be protected by the legal immunity afforded police officers because the question of whether Carter was acting in good faith was disputed.

The universitys previous claim to government immunity because its police department was licensed by the state was also rejected, by the appeals court and later the Texas Supreme Court, during the eight years since the lawsuit was filed.

A trial will allow Carters version of the facts to be challenged, Perry said.

A friend of Robert Cameron Redus holds a program during a Jan. 13, 2014 memorial service at the University of the Incarnate Word for Redus, a student fatally shot by a UIW officer weeks earlier.

RELATED: Appeals court says UIW cant claim immunity in Redus case

Carter knew Cameron was not armed, Perry said. His statement was false. He knew Cameron never hit him with the baton.

A Bexar County grand jury in 2014 declined to indict Carter. The parents of Redus, who lived in Baytown, filed the lawsuit that year.

The appeals court ruled that UIW was not entitled to governmental immunity with respect to the actions of its police, and the Texas Supreme Court agreed in 2020, saying that private universities do not operate as an arm of the state government through their police departments.

Following that decision, UIW filed a motion for summary judgment based on Carters qualified immunity. That motion was denied, and in affirming the ruling, the Fourth Court noted aspects of Carters story that might be disputed by a recording of the fatal encounter and because under questioning, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

ezavala@express-news.net | Twitter: @elizabeth2863

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9 years after a UIW police officer shot student Cameron Redus, the case is going to trial - San Antonio Express-News