SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio police officer who took part in two unauthorized high-speed pursuits in just over a two-week period earlier this year was suspended for 30 days by the department, records obtained by KSAT Investigates confirm.
Officer Taylor Sanchez was handed separate suspensions of 20 days and 10 days in June, following internal affairs investigations into the two incidents.
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On January 6, just after 4 a.m., Sanchez pursued a vehicle in the 1000 block of S. General McMullen after the driver failed to pull over for a traffic infraction, records show.
Sanchez failed to notify dispatch at the start of the chase and then did not stop pursuing the vehicle after being told to by a supervisor and dispatch, according to records.
“Officer Sanchez drove in excess of 100 mph, drove off road to jump a curb on a U-turn and entered intersections against steady red signals without stopping,” his suspension paperwork states.
Just over two weeks later, on Jan. 22, Sanchez again chased a vehicle after it failed to stop for a traffic violation in the area of Timber Hill Drive and Huebner Creek Greenway, records show.
With his patrol vehicle’s lights and sirens turned on, Sanchez chased the vehicle for two minutes and 20 seconds before alerting dispatchers, according to records.
Sanchez disregarded numerous stop signs and went through an intersection from a right-turn-only lane, the records state.
After arresting the suspect, Sanchez continued to disregard stop signs while taking the person to be booked, records show.
Sanchez later documented that neither he nor the suspect violated traffic laws during the incident, leading to another violation of department rules, suspension paperwork states.
Sanchez served the suspensions in late June and then from late July through mid-August, records show.
A second SAPD officer, Holvin Perez, was suspended seven days in June for his involvement in the Jan. 22 unauthorized chase, according to records.
Perez served as the secondary vehicle in the pursuit and took part in it for two minutes and 47 seconds before alerting dispatch, records show.
Perez also failed to activate his emergency lights for much of the pursuit and inaccurately wrote on his report that the suspect’s vehicle had not made any evasive maneuvers or seemed like it was attempting to flee from the traffic stop, the suspension paperwork states.