As a Lubbock family mourns the loss of their son, 27-year-old Robert Huerta Jr., they refuse to believe his death was accidental after officials declared he suffered injuries from a documented fall.
“It’s hard to accept that it was an accident when I know my nephew and that was not him,” Huerta’s Uncle Ricardo Jimenez said.
A Lubbock Police report states an officer responded to University Medical Center involving an assault that occurred ten day prior at a local home.
“I was holding his hand and he had a bunch of scratches on his elbows,” Jimenez said. “My sister picked up his blanket and I looked at his leg and he had a bunch of bruises on his legs too. You don’t get scratches like that from just falling down. It doesn’t make sense.”
Reports show Huerta’s family was told he fell and hit his head on a cement floor. He died shortly after at UMC’s Intensive Care Unit.
“It was hard for me to take it in, lifeless, not responding,” Jimenez said. “I couldn’t deal with it. I had to leave the room.”
Lubbock County Medical Examiner declared his death as an accident in an autopsy report, with the cause of death as “Acute Blunt Force Craniocerebral Injury due to Clinically Documented Fall(s).
After reading over the list of injuries listed in the autopsy report, Jimenez said there is more to the story surrounding his death.
He and other family members told EverythingLubbock.com that the 27-year-old was involved in an argument ten days prior to his death. Jimenez said the argument got physical and Huerta was held down by four people while another man beat him. They claim those injuries caused his death and are asking for justice in this case.
“I know this isn’t going to bring my nephew back but he’s out walking around living his life and my nephew, where’s he at, he’s gone,” Jimenez said. “What’s it going to take the get answers on this?”
Officials said they ruled Huerta’s death as accidental based on the evidence in this case.
