SAN ANTONIO — A man who found a cell phone lying in the street late last month said he never expected he would be accused of stealing the phone, let alone held at gunpoint by a retired San Antonio Police officer—all after returning the phone to its owner.
The man, who KENS 5 is not naming because he is fearful of retaliation, said he found the phone while leaving a far-west-side neighborhood. He said the phone screen was cracked but still functional, so he held onto it to return after he finished running errands.
According to a police report obtained by KENS 5, the owner of the phone said she was searching for it Sunday when her daughter said she left the device on the hood of a car and that it must have fallen off of the vehicle. The owner of the phone, her daughter and at least three others began tracking the phone, which led them to a gas station near Culebra and 1604.
As they all tracked the phone’s location in different vehicles, the report states one of the individuals called the phone and the man answered. The man told KENS 5 he told the woman on the other end of the line that he would return the phone but needed to stop at Home Depot first. He said the woman was not satisfied with that and wanted the phone immediately, because it contained a relative’s credit card and identification card. He said he told the woman he was unable to immediately meet because the errand was time-sensitive. The man continued, saying that the woman began yelling and cursing, and that he responded in kind before he eventually hung up.
The man told police he was driving down Culebra Road and was stopped at a light when a woman appeared at his window, knocking and asking for the phone. He said he yelled at the woman because he wasn’t sure who she was and drove to a gas station when the light turned green. The man told officers when he got to the gas station that a woman again confronted him and he threw the phone to her, frustrated that he had been accused of stealing it. The man told KENS 5 via phone Wednesday that he then told the woman she was ungrateful and if she would have just waited for him to complete his errand, he would have returned the phone.
The man thought the worst was over, until he arrived at Home Depot where he said a man in a red Jeep approached him with a gun and identified himself as a retired San Antonio Police officer. KENS 5 is not identifying the retired officer because he has not been charged with a crime.
The man told KENS 5 he began recording when he saw the gun. In the video, the retired SAPD detective can be seen pointing what appears to be a firearm at the man, telling him to put his hands up.
The man is heard asking the retired officer, "What’re you doing, man? What’re you going to do? Shoot me?”
The retired officer told police he received a call stating the man did not want to give the phone back and followed the man to Home Depot where he got out of the car with his gun drawn, telling the man to stay because police were on the way and instructing him to get on the ground.
The man is heard telling the retired officer he would not get on the ground, asking, “For what?” The retired officer is heard repeatedly accusing the man of stealing the phone, allegations which the man can be heard denying, instead insisting he told the caller he would return the phone.
The man told KENS 5 the former officer hit him with gun during a struggle. Meanwhile, the man repeatedly told the retired officer he was making a mistake. The pair exchanged punches, according to the report, before the man told the retired officer to “fight like a man” and put the gun away. As the former cop went to put up the gun, police arrived at the scene, according to the report.
The retired officer was not arrested at the scene and has not been charged, according to online court records. However, a police report lists the retired detective as being suspected of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The report also states police also confiscated the retired cop’s firearm.
Robert Gebbia, a criminal defense attorney with Hoelscher, Gebbia, Cepeda, PLLC, reviewed video of the confrontation between the former officer and the man who found the phone. Gebbia called it an abuse of authority on the retired officer’s part.
"I don't think that there's any justification to to come up on an individual in plain clothes,” Gebbia said. "You're not an officer anymore—to draw your weapon and try to get somebody down on the ground...there's no reason for it. It's clearly an abuse in my mind.”
While Texas law affords individuals the right to protect others and the property of others, Gebbia called the behavior extreme, noting the law often does not protect such extreme conduct.
"He thinks he's doing a good thing by getting somebody's phone in and reaching out to them and saying, ‘Hey, I'm going to deliver the phone to you,’” Gebbia explained. "And the next thing he knows, he's getting drawn down on by an individual who he's never met before and he doesn't know what this person's qualifications are.
"In fact, the victim in this instance, would have been justified in using deadly force himself. And then things really could have gotten out of control.”
Gebbia said he thinks the retired detective could have been arrested at the scene, but declined to weigh in definitively on whether he believes the former cop got preferential treatment.
“In this instance, I would say it's unfortunate that it does lend a little credence to that idea (that police do favors for each other),” Gebbia explained. "It's unfortunate. I don't think that SAPD is littered with this type of behavior, but here we have a situation where: Did he know the detectives that came up on the scene? Did the detectives know him? Did they display any type of favoritism?
"I know Chief (William) McManus doesn't go for that. I absolutely know that. At the lower ranks, is that type of behavior tolerated? I think in our country and our community, it's not going to be tolerated anymore. Nobody wants to have officers showing favoritism to one another."
SAPD officials declined a request to be interviewed for this story and did not respond to questions as to whether the retired officer received preferential treatment. The agency said the investigation is ongoing and that the report will be all that is released. It’s unclear whether the agency intends on forwarding the case to the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office for criminal prosecution. Calls and messages to the retired detective went unreturned.
A Human Resources representative on Wednesday confirmed the former officer named as a suspect in the police report retired from the agency in March of 2019 after more than 30 years with the department.