A police officer in Texas and his partner, who wanted to avoid working late, made a call that cost him his job – but now he’s arguing why he should be reinstated.
Officer Alexander Garza was riding with his partner on duty officer Hector Ybarra, when at 2:37 am, they were called to a domestic disturbance on October 8, 2021, the San Antonio Express News reported.
Garza, who was behind the wheel of the police car, drove in the direction of the disturbance before turning in the opposite direction, according to former SAPD Integrity Unit detective Carlos Ortiz.
Ybarra, meanwhile, asked if another officer could respond to the domestic disturbance and not long after being told no one could, according to Ortiz, the report of the stranded motorist was called in at 2:46 am.
Garza’s lawyer says, ‘All Officer Garza did was drive the car’, claiming he had no knowledge of his partners intentions or the falsified report
The officers had claimed to have cleared the motorist by 2:51 am, but officials later determined the call was a fake report, which resulted in the pairs’ suspension.
Both parties deny the allegations and requested arbitration, according to records that also alleged the pair acted ‘incompetently, neglected and shirked at their duties’.
According to San Antonio Police Department officials, the fake report was made to avoid working overtime on their scheduled shift and the actions of the officers delayed police response to the domestic disturbance call.
During an arbitration hearing that began on Tuesday, it was established that the owner of the vehicle, that corresponded with the license plate that the officers ran for the falsified report, was never stranded.
During their response to the ‘stranded motorist’ call, there were no vehicle or body-worn camera footage recorded, which is a requirement for the officers, according to San Antonio Express News.
Former SAPD Integrity Unit detective, Carlos Ortiz, said that the officers drove in the direction of the original call before turning in the opposite direction and reporting a ‘stranded motorist’
Garza’s lawyer, Robert Leonard, argued that the officer’s presence in the vehicle does not mean he contributed to the falsified call, as Ybarra was the one who spoke with dispatch and generated the fake report.
He said: ‘At no time was Officer Garza untruthful during this incident. At no time was he a co-conspirator. At no time did he collude or come up with a plan along with Officer Ybarra to make up this false call.’
Leonard said that Garza did not enter any false information and was unaware of Ybarra’s intentions at the time, and Ybarra told the dispatcher that they would resume the call shortly.
‘All Officer Garza did was drive the car. He was not responsible for anything that was put into the official government record,’ Leonard added.
On the stand, Garza denied the allegations and said he had ‘compassion’ for Ybarra at the time because the officer had a newborn baby and wanted to go home, but he did not know what his partner was typing into the report, reported San Antonio Express News.
‘I wish I would have said something… I didn’t know what (Ybarra) was doing until it happened,’ said Garza.
However, a lawyer representing the City of San Antonio, Donna McElroy, said Garza’s decision to not drive to the domestic disturbance call was a clear breach of the ‘trust and integrity required by a police officer’.
She said, ‘Mr. Garza was just as complicit as Mr. Ybarra in creating a fake call to avoid doing his job. Our citizens must be able to trust our police officers.’
McElroy also said that Garza had previously stated in his internal affairs investigation that Ybarra told him to drive away from the call, but with both officers holding the same rank, he was not obliged to obey.
The arbitrator for the hearing will submit their judgement within 30 days after both parties hold a post-hearing briefing.
