Luis Rodriguez sanded down the passenger door panel of the 2007 Dodge Ram he has been restoring, recounting a run-in he had with Ulster County deputies on March 25.

He was driving the unfinished, still multicolored truck through Ellenville that afternoon, when he was pulled over off of Route 209 due to the truck not having a bumper, both Rodriguez and deputies have said.

Rodriguez said he was told to exit his vehicle and a deputy frisked him, leading Rodriguez to become agitated.

Deputies then cuffed Rodriguez, directed him into the back seat of a police cruiser and proceeded to search Rodriguez’s truck, first by hand, then with a K-9.

He became more agitated.

“I called them a lot of things, but they deserved it,” Rodriguez recalled of the episode, laughing in the truck’s driver seat. “I’m telling them, ‘you can’t do that, you’re violating my Fourth Amendment right.’ They didn’t want to hear that. They just continued to do what they were doing.”

The search yielded nothing.

Rodriguez was cited for his missing bumper, not having his current license with him and disorderly conduct. Rodriguez filed a complaint, was sworn to his written testimony during an internal affairs interview and has been awaiting an update for the last two months.

He wondered why the delay for an investigation that has all subjects available for interviews and does not require waiting for any lab results.

“I’m just happy they are trying to resolve the situation,” he said. "But I think they can do better, way better.”

As it turns out, some complainants have waited for up to eight months for investigations to reach resolution.

Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa said Thursday that staffing issues and an increased caseload have caused the long waits. Another barrier to completing investigations in a timely manner, Figueroa said, is that internal affairs investigations are “collateral duties,” meaning complaint investigations are not any one deputy’s primary responsibility.

But the complaint will eventually be resolved, he added, and that if an investigation reveals any wrongdoing by deputies, Figueroa will address it, either through training or discipline.

He has done it before.

“I’m not proud if I have to bring someone up on disciplinary charges,” he said. “I would say, the last two years we’ve had quite a few cases pop up, probably more so than the past. Now, if there’s something they did they need improvement on, then we’ll get them training and hold him accountable for what he did. And if he does it again, he’s probably going to get fired.”

Figueroa would not disclose exactly — or approximately — how many deputies he has had to discipline since he took office in January 2019.

Rodriguez, meanwhile, is anxious for Figueroa to sort out the staffing issues. Rodriguez believes he is not the only Ulster County resident who is becoming impatient waiting for a resolution.

“They need to go ahead and investigate that immediately so that officer isn’t going to violate anyone else’s rights, whether it’s a life or death situation or not,” he said. “I think they need to set up a team or make more time.”

Regarding Rodriguez’s complaint, Figueroa would only share that it was assigned lower priority by internal affairs investigators.

He said that typically means no deputies were found to have committed any “egregious” offenses during the March 25 traffic stop, and that if there were any serious wrongdoing, the deputies would have been suspended immediately.

This reporter has requested copies of body-worn camera footage from five deputies who were at the scene.

Investigators have been pouring over hours of video, Figueroa said. Rodriguez has not been allowed to view the footage.