HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A University of Houston student whose car was struck dozens of times during a police shooting says the City of Houston initially denied her claim for repairs.
Abigail Trujillo, 20, had her Nissan Altima parked at the Highland Village shopping center while she worked at a retail store on July 6. Like many Houstonians, she relies on her vehicle for nearly everything.
“I use it for school, I use it for work,” Trujillo said.
But that day, Trujillo’s car became caught in the middle of a standoff between Houston police and the driver of a reportedly stolen vehicle.
Police said officers located a car reported stolen in the Highland Village area. A standoff followed between officers and the driver, identified as Jamarcus Spates. Witness video shows the driver opening the car door and extending an object outside before officers fired their weapons.
RELATED: New video shows Houston police officers open fire during Highland Village stolen-car standoff
Spates was grazed and survived, authorities said. Trujillo’s vehicle, parked beside the stolen car, was heavily damaged, however. She estimates it was hit by about 40 bullets, with repair estimates coming in at roughly $20,000.
Trujillo submitted a claim to the City of Houston but received a letter stating that the city had governmental immunity and was “not legally liable” for the damage that occurred. The denial left her making payments on a car she cannot drive while borrowing a friend’s vehicle to get to school and work.
“I was very surprised because, to me, they’re clearly responsible for the damages,” Trujillo said.
Jeffrey Redfern, a senior attorney for the nonprofit Institute of Justice, says the law clearly backs up Trujillo in this case.
“The Texas Supreme Court has held since 1980 that when law enforcement intentionally or foreseeably destroys innocent people’s property in the course of doing their jobs, the innocent property owners are entitled to be compensated,” Redfern said.
Redfern said the city may have initially treated Trujillo’s request as a tort claim – a question of whether officers acted improperly. But he argues her case is not about police wrongdoing. Instead, he said, it concerns whether the government must compensate an innocent person whose property was damaged during a police operation.
“I agree they’re not liable because they did something wrong, but the law is pretty clear in Texas that they are liable for this kind of intentional destruction,” Redfern said.
Data obtained by 13 Investigates shows about 300 people filed claims alleging property damage tied to Houston Police Department activity from 2024 through the first few months of 2025. Only about one in four of those claims were paid.
When ABC13 asked the Mayor’s office Wednesday about the Trujillo’s situation, we got two different statements.
The first statement said: “Mayor Whitmire has personally gotten involved in the resolution of this situation. It will be resolved in a fair manner, as it was initially mishandled due to a technicality.”
When asked when the Mayor decided to get involved, we received a second statement that removed the line about it being mishandled due to a technicality.
ABC13 delivered this news to Trujillo during our interview.
“I guess I’ll wait till they reach out to me and see where that goes,” she said. “I was not expecting that.”
Trujillo also said her car was towed as part of the shooting investigation, and a week later, she had to pay $200 of her own money to retrieve her car from the Houston Police Department vehicle impound lot.
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