A lawsuit filed in Harris County Wednesday is seeking $10 million in damages from a Houston firearms dealer and gun manufacturer for a police officer who was wounded while on duty.
Houston police officer Richard Fernandez Jr. was shot in the leg by a SIG P320 semiautomatic pistol on Jan. 20 while directing traffic in advance of a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade.
The bullet went through Fernandez’s right calf and lodged in his ankle, and he needed emergency surgery to remove it. He now requires ongoing medical care.
Fernandez claims the incident has also caused him shame and embarrassment, knowing that others may believe he was at fault even though the gun was never removed from its holster.
Rusty Hardin & Associates and attorney J. Scott Siscoe are representing Fernandez against Sig Sauer and CTC Gunworks.
“This particular gun model has been linked to hundreds of other similar instances of going off without anyone touching the weapon,” Rusty Hardin said in a press release. “Sig Sauer so far has refused to effectively remedy this clearly defective design or issue a warning to the public about this potentially deadly flaw.”
Fernandez’s lawsuit comes just days after a U.S. Air Force Security Forces airman was shot and killed in Wyoming while using his Sig Sauer M18 pistol, the military version of the P320. The Air Force Global Strike Command has since temporarily suspended the use of the M18 as it investigates the fatal July 20 incident.
According to the lawsuit, there have been hundreds of other instances of the P320 firing without a trigger pull. Another incident happened in June when a Ceres, California, police officer was injured when her holstered Sig Sauer P320 discharged in the parking lot of a junior high school.
Rusty Hardin & Associates partner Kendall Speer said that there are quite a few Houston Police Department officers who use the P320.
She said that while some police departments have banned the use of the P320, the HPD has yet to do so.
Speer explained that HPD officers receive a firearm allowance to purchase the gun of their choice for their duty weapon. The weapon is registered with the department. The P320 is not a department-issued firearm.
“This didn’t have to happen to Officer Fernandez,” Speer said. “It doesn’t have to keep happening to others.”
Fernandez is seeking $10 million in damages and requesting a jury trial.
Speer said there were no settlement talks prior to filing the lawsuit.
“We’re just hopeful that this lawsuit will encourage them to finally acknowledge the issues and take responsibility and make some changes to make sure more people aren’t hurt,” Speer said.
CTC Gunworks declined to comment.
Sig Sauer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This case is one of many against the gun manufacturer for its P320 pistol.
“The allegations against the P320 are nothing more than individuals seeking to profit or avoid personal responsibility,” Sig Sauer wrote in a March press release.
In June, Sig Sauer stated that 17 separate P320-related cases have been dismissed.
“The rhetoric is high, and we can no longer stay silent while lawsuits run their course, and clickbait farming, engagement hacking grifters continue their campaign to highjack the truth for profit. Enough is enough. From the courts of law to the court of public opinion we will combat the lies and misinformation with the truth. SIG SAUER stands behind the quality, safety, and design of all our products – especially the P320,” Sig Sauer wrote in its press release.
The case is Richard Fernandez Jr. v. Sig Sauer Inc., and CTC Gunworks LLC, 2025-51394.