SAN ANTONIO – A face-off caught on camera with Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff has a local man facing criminal prosecution.
Terry Toller, the man initially charged with felony assault in the altercation with Wolff, is now charged with disorderly conduct. The altercation unfolded inside of a Lowe’s store on I-10 and Callaghan.
Officials said it started because the man was not wearing a mask. In the video, Wolff appears to try handing a business card to Toller, before Toller slaps it out of the judge’s hand.
Toller was initially charged with 2nd-degree felony assault on a public servant, but the charge was reduced to disorderly conduct Thursday.
Toller’s attorney, former District Attorney Nico LaHood, has contested any wrongdoing on Toller’s part.
“Judge Wolff approached him,” LaHood said. “Judge Wolff did not maintain six feet distance. I don’t know why, you got to ask Judge Wolff. Judge Wolff offered a card over his (Toller’s) shoulder into his (Toller’s) face that he (Toller) didn’t ask for.”
Wolff admitted he was not hurt during the incident during a press conference Wednesday evening regarding local COVID-19 cases.
”The only physical thing that happened was when I went to hand him a card, (he) knocked my hand down, you know, didn’t hurt me,” Wolff said during the press conference on Wednesday.
The Bexar County District Attorney sent a statement saying that Judge Wolff himself suggested the charge be reduced to disorderly conduct for using profanity in a public setting.
However, LaHood said that is not good enough, adding no charge should have been brought against his client in the first place.
”If Judge Wolff didn’t have the privilege of being in the position he was in, then he wouldn’t have had the result this fast,” LaHood said. “And now it’s being corrected. It’s in the process of being corrected.”
Thursday afternoon, Wolff released a statement that appears to contradict the one sent out earlier by the DA’s office.
The statement says, in part, “I did not want to pursue any sort of criminal complaint against Mr. Toller. 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.”
Following the incident yesterday, Wolff admitted personal wrongdoing after being spotted in a restaurant speaking to someone without his mask on.
“I should’ve pulled it (mask) up right away,” Wolff said.
As far as the incident at the Lowe’s, LaHood is not keeping quiet about what he said was an arrest warrant issued without any due process.
”This was taken way out of context at the very least. It was mishandled very irresponsibly. And at the worst, it was deceptive,” LaHood said.
The disorderly conduct charge Toller now faces is a class C misdemeanor and carries a fine of $500, if convicted.
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