Deputy Arrested, Inmate Erroneously Released
Salazar Had a Bad Day on Thursday
Not only did Sheriff Javier Salazar skip the Sheriff’s Forum, making him look too cowardly to face questions on the failures of his administration, but another deputy was arrested and another inmate was erroneously released. All that in one day. What a mess.
In his desperation, Salazar did his usual photo op showing him personally going to arrest the inmate but I doubt anyone is fooled by that anymore. We all know that the deputies do all the real work and he’s just there for the camera, not caring that he is stealing credit from his officers.
Deputy Arrested for Domestic Violence
On Wednesday night SAPD officers were dispatched to an assault call. The individual who assaulted the woman had left the premises but officers were informed that the assailant was Deputy John Paul Garza, the husband of the victim. Garza was located, arrested and booked at the Bexar County Jail the next day, for Assault Bodily Injury-Married. Deputy Garza is a law enforcement patrol officer who has been with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office for eight years. His bond was set at $3,000 and he was placed on administrative leave. See KSAT story here.
Another Erroneous Release
The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office has, yet again, mistakenly released an inmate. Inmate Dylan Alexander Murray was given a P.R. bond and released from the Bexar County Jail on Thursday. But Mr. Murray had a warrant from another county, that he had not been booked on. The KSAT article doesn’t say what the error was, only that it was a clerical error. We’ve heard that excuse many times now. The problem with it, though the word is used correctly, it gives the impression that a clerk made the error. The errors are being made by officers. Overworked, exhausted, Detention officers who are having to deal with a system that incompetent people have devised.
Hollywood Javi Strikes Again
The irony regarding the erroneous release is that during the Sheriff’s Forum, Republican candidate, Willie Ng mentioned that Sheriff Javier Salazar is known as Hollywood Javi. He said that it was not a compliment. That very night, in a move that exemplified what Mr. Ng was referring to, Sheriff Salazar made a point of going with the CID officers (why not the warrant officers?) to arrest Mr. Murray. Salazar is not the person who tracks down these people. He is not the one arresting them, unless it is staged. All he is there for is to steal credit from the officers who did the real work.
We have some questions. Does the sheriff ride around with a camera man who takes pictures so Salazar will have something to give to the media? Is the picture shown in the KSAT article a picture taken by the media as it appears to be? If so, what does Salazar do, have a crew ride around with him? And if it is a media picture but a crew does not ride around with him, do they call the media to come take a picture? Do they stall the arrest so the media can get there? Isn’t that one of the things that Michelle Barrientes-Vela is being criminally charged with doing? No matter how you look at it, these are staged events and are obviously a needed tool for someone who has nothing else to offer in their tool box.
Where was the Sheriff?
So where was Sheriff Javier Salazar that caused him to miss the Sheriff’s Forum? According to the BCSO Facebook page, it looks like he may have been at a community readiness training that offered information on Active Shooters and gave Stop the Bleed training. Neither one of those training courses required the sheriff’s presence. He could have easily said he would not be able to attend after all because it was so important that he let the constituents of Bexar County know what he has done and what he plans to do. Everyone would have understood. The reality is, he used this event as an excuse because he was too afraid of having to answer for the mess that he has made out of the Sheriff’s Office. Salazar wants nice, scripted press conferences with no push back. The Bexar County community wants answers.