BEXAR COUNTY, Texas — Two Bexar County deputy constables who were injured in the line of duty are now out of the hospital. They were reunited with their families before the Fourth of July.
Investigators say the deputies were serving an eviction warrant on Wednesday when a disgruntled tenant attacked them. It happened at the Auburn Creek Apartments on the northwest side.
Precinct 2 Constable Leticia Vazquez told KENS 5 her heart sank when she got the call.
“It was actually four officers that were injured; three had minor injuries,” said Constable Vazquez. “That’s of course my biggest fear – is having my officers hurt on the job. That’s the emotional part. It’s my job to make sure they go home to their families.”
'Waiting in the dark'
Around 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, deputies attempted to evict a 58-year-old man in the 4400 block of Gardendale Road. The suspect allegedly refused to leave the apartment and barricaded himself inside. After trying to negotiate with him, Constable Vazquez says her deputies went in.
“They had tried to breach that apartment about four times,” she said. “When they finally got in there, he had barricaded himself in. He had put a table and a lot of stuff behind the door. So, they had to move all that stuff. We have entry teams. So, my first team with the shield went to the left and my second team went to the right. That’s where he was waiting in the dark. He knows his apartment better, so he had the upper hand.”
Tenant sliced through deputy's artery
The suspect reportedly had a makeshift weapon and began swinging at deputies.
“The arrested person ended up having some kind of club or stick, he had attached glass or a blade or something to make the edges sharp,” said Constable Vazquez. “One officer had his [weapon drawn], and that’s where the [tenant] sliced his arm.”
According to Constable Vazquez, the suspect sliced through the deputy’s artery.
“He would have bled out in two minutes,” she said. “There’s no way he would have made it to the hospital."
However, the deputy’s brothers and sisters in blue sprang into action. Two deputies tied a tourniquet around the injured deputy’s arm and took him to safety, while the other deputies disarmed and arrested the suspect.
Delivering bad news is dangerous
“Two or three weeks ago, the San Antonio Police Department’s tactical first aid team had a class,” said Constable Vazquez. “The 100 Hundred Club of San Antonio paid for my officers to go. I sent all my officers, except for the ones that weren’t here. Guess what saved my officer’s life? That class and them knowing how to use that tourniquet.”
Constable Vazquez says Precinct 2 is constantly training. Deputies check to see if the people they're evicting have outstanding warrants, firearms, or dogs.
But delivering bad news is still dangerous.
“We do 80 to 90 evictions a week,” said Constable Vazquez. “We are getting called when someone is at their lowest. They are getting evicted, or we are doing a writ of possession of their property. Nowadays, things have gotten so bad. [People’s] mental state, financial situations, crime... it’s like the perfect storm brewing all the time.”
Deputies deliver good news, too
So, deputies also work on building relationships and trust in the community, Constable Vazquez says. Deputies deliver donated toys to children on Christmas, socks to seniors in nursing homes, and they host a Halloween drive-through event.
The Bexar County Constable's Office Precinct 2 offers self defense courses and active shooter training to the public.
The deputies were able to arrest the 58-year-old suspect, identified as Phillip Weems, without using deadly force. Constable Vazquez says she is proud of how her team kept each other and the public safe.