A Texas police officer and his partner refused to work overtime and made a phone call that caused him to lose his job, but now he is advocating to have his job reinstated.
Officer Alexander Garza was driving with his on-duty partner, Officer Hector Ybarra, when they were called to a domestic dispute at 2:37 a.m. on October 8, 2021. San Antonio Express News reported.
According to Carlos Ortiz, a former detective with the SAPD Integrity Unit, Garza, who was behind the wheel of the police car, drove toward the disturbance and then turned to the other side.
Ybarra, meanwhile, asked if another officer could respond to the domestic disturbance. Shortly after being told no one could come, the report of the stranded motorist was called in at 2:46 a.m., according to Ortiz.
Garza’s attorney says, “All Officer Garza did was drive the car,” and claims he had no knowledge of his partners’ intentions or of the falsified report.
The officers claimed to have let the driver go at 2:51 a.m., but later found out it was a false alarm, resulting in the duo being suspended.
Both sides deny the allegations and have requested arbitration. Documents also show that the two “acted incompetently, neglected their duties and failed to act.”
According to San Antonio police officials, the false report was made to avoid working overtime during their scheduled shift. The officers’ actions increased the time it took for police to respond to the domestic violence report.
During an arbitration hearing that began Tuesday, it was determined that the owner of the vehicle, whose license plate matched the one officers wrote down for the falsified report, was never stranded.
During their response to the report of a ‘stranded motorist’, no footage was recorded from the vehicle or the bodycam, which is a requirement for the officers, according to San Antonio Express News.
Carlos Ortiz, a former detective with the SAPD Integrity Unit, said the officers drove in the direction of the original report before turning in the opposite direction and reporting a “stranded motorist.”
Garza’s attorney, Robert Leonard, argued that the officer’s presence in the vehicle does not mean he contributed to the falsified phone call, since Ybarra was the one who spoke to police and made the false report.
He said, “At no time was Officer Garza untruthful during this incident. At no time was he an accomplice. At no time did he conspire or scheme with Officer Ybarra to fabricate this false call.”
Leonard said Garza had not entered false information and that he was unaware of Ybarra’s intentions at the time. Ybarra told the dispatcher they would resume the conversation shortly.
“All Officer Garza did was drive the car. He was not responsible for what was put in the official government file,” Leonard added.
Garza denied the allegations during his testimony, saying he felt “compassion” for Ybarra at the time because the officer had a newborn baby with him and wanted to get home. However, he did not know what his partner typed into the report, the San Antonio Express News reported.
“I wish I had said something… I didn’t know what (Ybarra) was doing until it happened,” Garza said.
According to Donna McElroy, an attorney representing the city of San Antonio, Garza’s decision not to respond to a domestic violence report was a clear violation of “the trust and integrity that a police officer requires.”
She said, “Mr. Garza was just as complicit as Mr. Ybarra in creating a fake call to avoid doing his job. Our citizens need to be able to trust our police officers.”
McElroy also said that Garza had previously stated in his internal investigation that Ybarra had told him to drive away from the call, but because both officers were the same rank, he was not obligated to comply.
The arbitrator who will attend the hearing will issue his or her award within 30 days after both parties have held a post-hearing briefing.