Second Arrest of Officer for Family Violence



photo of Deputy John Paul Garza
Deputy John Paul Garza

Officer Arrested for Assaulting Wife

(TX) – A deputy with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, has been arrested for a second time, for assaulting his wife.  Deputy John Paul Garza, who is a patrol officer, was first arrested in February of this year. (See our multiple offenders article). He assaulted his wife then left the scene in an attempt to avoid being arrested. He was found and placed under arrest for Assault Bodily Injury-Married. Garza was placed on administrative leave while he fought his termination.

Officer Garza was arrested a second time, on Monday, for assaulting his wife. Technically, Garza is still a Bexar County deputy, even though he has been on leave since February. In his latest assault on his spouse, he knocked her to the ground and kicked her in the face. When the beating resulted in blood getting on the woman’s clothes, Garza yanked off her bloody clothes and attempted to hide the evidence. The partially-clad woman was able to run to a neighbor for help.

Officer Faces Family Violence Charge

According to KSAT 12,

“John Paul Garza, 31, has been charged with continuous violence against a family member and violation of a protective order following the incident on Sunday night, Salazar said. Both charges are third-degree felonies that carry bonds of $10,000 each, booking records show.”

Garza’s ran from the scene before officers arrived, just like he did the first time. And like the first time, he was found and arrested. According to Sheriff Salazar, “This assault the second time around was a lot more violent than the first.”

Sheriff Salazar Tries to Deflect Blame

Sheriff Salazar was interviewed by the media and in that interview he tried to blame the previous administration for the current problems with Garza. Under Sheriff Pamerleau, Garza was suspended for 10 days for using an ‘inappropriate amount of force’ against an inmate and for lying about it while being polygraphed. According to Salazar, it was a violent interaction.

I realize that Salazar is incompetent at his job so he tries to distract people with what others did, but he’s in his second term now. It’s well past time for him to take responsibility. I’m beginning to suspect that as soon as he finds out about a problem, his first question is ‘when was the person hired?’ so he can see if he can blame it on Sheriff Susan Pamerleau. Should Garza have been fired under Pamerleau? My personal opinion is yes, but that’s an opinion made without knowing the full details of the situation, so it’s pretty much worthless.

Salazar’s Dirty Laundry

Now let’s take a look at Salazar. He supposedly has a problem with violent interactions, yet he did nothing to the officers who killed 6-year old Kameron Prescott. and Salazar did nothing when deputies killed Damian Lamar Daniels who was having a mental health crisis. Salazar did nothing to the patrol supervisor who sent a police K-9 at a man who was already randomly firing at officers. No surprise, the man shot and killed the K-9.

Maybe it’s the lying he doesn’t like. Wait, that can’t be it. A latent examiner was demoted, in a prior administration, for lying on a sworn statement in an effort to hurt her ex-boyfriend, who was a deputy. That lying was okay with Sheriff Salazar. He reinstated her as a latent examiner and she was given back pay. (Just a side note, she was very active in his campaign for sheriff).

Enough with trying to blame others, Sheriff. You have plenty of dirty laundry that you need to take responsibility for. It’s way past time to put on your big boy pants.

NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE

1-800-799-SAFE (7233)  TTY 1-800-787-3224

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