SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio Police Department Chief William McManus and the attorney for an officer fired by McManus for excessive force in 2020 repeatedly sparred during day three of arbitration in the discipline case.
Attorney Ben Sifuentes, whose client, Officer Andre Vargas, is attempting to get reinstated to the force, repeatedly questioned McManus’ memory of the internal affairs investigation that led the chief to terminate Vargas and a second officer in June 2020.
At one point, McManus answered, “Maybe,” when asked by Sifuentes if he thought the attorney was lying to him about information pertaining to the case.
McManus defended his decision to issue Vargas an indefinite suspension, tantamount to firing him, after Vargas used profane language and fired his stun gun at suspect Matthew Garza in a South Side parking lot in late November 2019, as Vargas attempted to take Garza into custody for evading arrest.
“His approach started way up here, way escalated beyond what it should have been,” testified McManus.
The chief stated that Vargas “manhandled” Garza.
Garza, who was given probation in the evading arrest case last year, filed a formal complaint against Vargas and Officer Michael Brewer in early 2020.
The two officers were eventually fired for violating department rules covering conduct and behavior, use of force and treatment of prisoners.
Brewer was later criminally charged after investigators determined he kneeled on Garza’s neck during the arrest.
Brewer was indicted by a grand jury for unlawful restraint last year, but he was able to get the criminal charge dismissed last month.
He has also requested a hearing before a third-party arbitrator at a future date in hopes of being reinstated to SAPD.
Vargas was never criminally charged, and it appears the statute of limitations to criminally charge him has passed.
Sifuentes was able to get several documents from other SAPD suspensions entered as evidence in an effort to show disparate treatment.
The arbitration strategy, which has been successfully used to get several other fired SAPD officers reinstated, suggests that the department terminates some officers while suspending others for similar rules violations.
Arbitrator Lori LaConta declined to allow some of the suspension documents to be entered as evidence, and it was unclear Thursday how many prior discipline cases she may consider when issuing her award in this hearing.
The arbitration, which was scheduled to end Thursday, will instead press on as Sifuentes still has several more witnesses to call.
The hearing will likely conclude later this year.