SAN ANTONIO — A now-former Bexar County sheriff's deputy has been arrested for murder, accused of drunkenly crashing into a man and fleeing the scene.
Sheriff Javier Salazar said Giovanni Ceja, 31, was on vacation in California when he borrowed a vehicle from a relative. Salazar said investigators determined that, on the evening August 6, he drank "a significant amount of alcohol" before driving down IH 215 and hitting a man who was on the side of the road putting gas in the car. Investigators said he fled, but part of the damaged car was left at the scene.
"He's wearing orange and being booked into the same jail he came to work at this morning," Salazar said Monday afternoon.
The corporal, a five-year veteran of the agency, was working in uniform at the jail when the Riverside County Sheriff's Office called to say they had a murder warrant for him. According to Salazar, Ceja was asked if he wanted to resign or go through the process of termination—Ceja chose to submit a resignation letter, which was accepted "on the spot."
Ceja has already been dishonorably discharged, and is now awaiting extradition to California to face charges of murder, DUI, and hit-and-run resulting in injury or death.
“I’m extremely disappointed. Quite frankly, I’m furious," Salazar said. "We were in the process of planning a press conference of a really good burglary case investigation... but with that being said, I’m furious we have to be here talking about this. My understanding is he was talking to California authorities since then and couldn’t even get his story straight.”
Salazar said Ceja told the owner of the car a story about hitting a truck on the side of the road when he returned it with damage, but that relative called authorities after seeing that they were looking for it in connection to the hit-and-run. He said the unidentified 38-year-old victim had called a loved one asking for a gas can, and he believed the crash happened while the loved one was there.
Salazar added that Ceja will be jailed in a neighboring county until he can be extradited to California. He is the fifth Bexar County deputy to have been arrested in 2023 so far.