More Misconduct by Bexar Deputies
Deputy Arrested for Family Violence
Well, that didn’t take long. The day after the arrest of Deputy Floyd Berry, Deputy Gabriel Pena was arrested for Family Violence. Deputy Pena, a member of the law enforcement side of the Sheriff’s Office, was off-duty when he was arrested by BCSO officers. The KSAT 12 story doesn’t give any details about what happened but it does have an update that says the charges were rejected by the District Attorney’s Office.
Charges being rejected by the D.A.’s Office is not unusual. The D.A. reviews what the officers write on their reports and determine if the actions rose to the level required for them to successfully prosecute the charge. A person gets arrested. They are taken to the magistrate’s office. The D.A. on duty reviews the officer’s report and either accepts the charges, changes them to what they should be or rejects the case completely if he or she does not feel they are sufficient. This is not something that was done just because he was an officer.
Drunk Deputy Pepper Sprayed
Also on Monday, an intoxicated Bexar County deputy fled after being involved in a disturbance at a sports bar that was serious enough for the bar’s security to feel the need to pepper spray the deputy. San Antonio Police officers were able to track him down. The KSAT 12 article does not say how the deputy fled. Was he on foot or in a vehicle? This would seem to matter since fleeing in a vehicle would mean the deputy was DWI.
The deputy was turned over to an on-duty supervisor who transported the intoxicated deputy to his home. Since no arrest was made, KSAT is not releasing the name of the deputy.
More Inept Decisions by the Sheriff
In the first incident, Deputy Pena has been placed on unpaid administrative leave while both Internal Affairs and the Public Integrity Unit investigate the incident, even though the D.A. rejected the case. If the case was rejected then why make this officer unavailable for use especially knowing that you have a severely understaffed organization? Do the investigation but let him keep working until the investigation concludes.
And why does Salazar keep having different sections duplicate work? You don’t need two different sections running their own separate investigations. That this administration does this all the time just shows their inability to be good administrators.
Is This Deputy Being Protected?
In the second incident, the Sheriff’s Office is investigating to see if any policies or procedures were violated. I’m pretty curious about who the officer is in this case. It sure seems as if it’s being handled delicately. An officer gets drunk. Some kind of disturbance occurs. The disturbance is significant enough for the bar security to feel the need to pepper spray the deputy. The deputy flees. (Really wondering how he fled). San Antonio Police have to hunt him down.
Yet all that is done is they turn the deputy over to a Bexar County law enforcement supervisor who takes the deputy home. And all the Sheriff’s Office is worried about in this incident, is whether he violated a policy or procedure. Really? Not even administrative leave while he is investigated? Maybe it’s completely innocent and the disparity in treatment is just more of their lack of administrative decision-making skills that are making it look so bad, but it sure comes across as if someone is being protected.