FRESNO, Calif. – A trio of federal lawsuits alleges several Fresno police officers engaged in a pattern of civil rights violations. In all three cases, police have denied the allegations and requested a trial date.
The cases were brought by Fresno business owners who were arrested in their workplaces on charges related to firearms and narcotics. According to the federal lawsuits against the officers filed in 2023 and 2024, all charges against the business owners were eventually dropped by the Fresno County District Attorney’s office due to a lack of sufficient evidence. The lawsuits were first reported by Fresno Spotlight.
While DA Lisa Smittcamp’s office wouldn’t comment on these specific cases, spokesperson Taylor Long did say the decision to drop charges brought by police officers is “not as common as it may seem.”
“From time to time, additional evidence or information comes to light after a case is filed which causes us to reevaluate and pivot, as we should, and dispose of a case appropriately,” she wrote.
After that, the business owners sued the Fresno police officers who arrested them, claiming the arrests were unlawful and the result of retaliation. Two of the lawsuits also accuse the officers of excessive force. All three cases name the same two officers – Gustavo Gutierrez and Rey Medeles – and one case names an additional officer, Manuel Romero.
“The common factor in all of these cases is that raid teams that were led by officers Medeles and Gutierrez…were involved in using force, seizing property and filing very serious charges against people who were completely exonerated,” said Kevin Little, a defense attorney in Fresno who is representing all three plaintiffs.
Gutierrez was also investigated in 2018 following an officer-involved shooting. According to police records, Gutierrez shot and killed a man who had been shooting at police officers and members of the public from a hotel room in southwest Fresno.
According to documents obtained by the California Reporting Project, an internal affairs investigation determined Gutierrez’s actions were justified.
All three lawsuits regarding the Fresno business owners against these officers are still in discovery, which involves the preliminary exchange of information between attorneys.
Jury trials have been set for late 2026 if the cases aren’t resolved before then.
Arrests, property seizures and high bails
Among the plaintiffs suing the officers is Luis Rodriguez who owns a bike repair shop in Fresno’s Tower District. His lawsuit alleges that in October 2021, officers Gutierrez, Medeles and a handful of others forced their way into his shop without a warrant, searched the premises and seized tools and $2,300 in cash.
The lawsuit also alleges the officers struck and stepped on Rodriguez, then arrested him “without any factual basis.”
According to the lawsuit, Rodriguez was booked on more than 60 charges related to firearms and child endangerment.
Daniel Guzman Vela also alleges Gutierrez and Medeles used excessive force when searching his business in 2023.
Guzman Vela, who co-founded an online cannabis retailer, was working at an auto repair shop when he alleges the officers executed a warrant in connection with an investigation into a black market marijuana dispensary.
His lawsuit alleges the officers used “injurious force on him that was totally unnecessary and unjustified” before arresting him and seizing $1,000 in cash. He was booked on 14 charges and assigned $5 million bail.
The third plaintiff is Chi Thanh Ngo, who owns Valley Hydroponics in North Fresno. His complaint alleges that in April 2023, a team led by Gutierrez, Medeles and Romero obtained a warrant “secured with both false and unreliable representations.”
The officers allegedly searched his office and home in relation to a firearms and narcotics investigation, then allegedly seized firearms, business records and $10,000 in cash. The lawsuit alleges he was booked on seven charges and assigned $22 million bail, though the DA’s office disputes that figure. KVPR was not able to review court records from cases that were dismissed.
All charges against the three men were later dropped.
The business owners all accuse the police officers of unconstitutional and retaliatory arrests and unconstitutional and retaliatory prosecutions. Some of the lawsuits also accuse the officers of excessive and retaliatory force, battery, unlawful deprivation of property rights and other allegations.
Police deny all allegations
In federal court filings, attorneys for the Fresno Police Department deny all charges against its officers.
“Defendants…deny generally and specifically each and every allegation contained therein,” the responses all read. “Defendants and their agents or officers at all times relevant to this action acted reasonably and prudently under the circumstances.”
The police department would not offer any further comment on these cases to KVPR, but department spokesperson Larry Bowlan did email a statement that said use of force is of critical concern to their agency and the public.
“Fresno Police officers receive on-going training on appropriate use of force, crisis intervention and de-escalation tactics,” the statement reads. “Despite responding to 373,848 incidents in 2024, including thousands of weapons related calls, Fresno police officers used reportable force in only 0.077% of incidents.”
Still, Little, the Fresno defense lawyer, said that these cases are concerning on a number of levels:
“On the individual level where you've got these innocent people being harassed; on a systemic level, that this seemed to have been a recurring pattern; and then on a personnel level, that you have these improper actions occurring with the same officers being involved each time,” he said.
“It speaks to a lack of effective supervision, a willful blindness for officers and detectives who are not engaging in proper conduct,” he added.
