SAN ANTONIO — Bexar County authorities have dismissed the disorderly conduct charge against the San Antonio man who allegedly assaulted Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff inside a Lowe's Home Improvement store
Terry Toller, 47, turned himself in after officials said he allegedly assaulted Judge Wolff inside the store in June. He was arrested on a warrant for assaulting a peace officer/judge, which is a 2nd-degree felony.
However, just a few hours later, the charge was reduced to a Class C misdemeanor. The LaHood Norton Law Group said they would be representing Toller.
BCSO said Judge Wolff was approaching the checkout counter inside the Lowe's off I-10 and Callaghan Road when the cashier asked Toller ahead of him to wear a mask. According to Wolff, Toller became belligerent and started berating the cashier.
Wolff told investigators he stepped in to break up the altercation and explain recent local orders, which require masks to be worn inside local businesses.
The judge went to give Toller his card and said the man knocked it out of his hand before taking off from the store.
“Quite frankly I thought I was going up there to solve something, and that didn’t work out so good,” Wolff said. “People have a lot of anger in them and that certainly happened today.”
Sheriff Javier Salazar said after the alleged assault, Wolff called him and put the phone on speaker as a verbal confrontation ensued.
“I could hear the suspect just berating the judge, he knew exactly who he was, he knew exactly who he was dealing with, and he knew that he was in violation of the judge’s order,” said Salazar.
The sheriff's office said that Wolff was unharmed in the incident.
In an interview with KENS 5 following the June incident, attorney Nico LaHood brought up his concerns.
"There's been nothing normal about this case," LaHood said. "This is not a felony assault, for sure. Unfortunately, this seems to be an abuse of authority on Nelson's part."
Wolff offered a statement following the arrest, saying that he didn't want to be a distraction to the main cause at hand.
“I called the District Attorney early this morning and told him I did not want to pursue any sort of criminal complaint...I did not want this to be a distraction of our main focus of requiring businesses to have customers wear masks and continuing to ensure the health and safety of everyone in our community," said Judge Wolff.
The following video was published in June:
