SAN ANTONIO – Two San Antonio police officers are appealing their firings after officials discovered they falsified calls to avoid working late, according to records recently obtained by KSAT 12 News.
Officer Alexander Garza and Sgt. Hector J. Ybarra III both received indefinite suspension notices in late March, the suspension records showed. Both are appealing to a third-party arbitrator in an effort to get reinstated.
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On Oct. 8, 2020, the two-man patrol unit was dispatched around 2:37 a.m. to handle a domestic disturbance call in the 1900 block of Jamar Boulevard.
The officers instead diverted themselves to a call for a stranded motorist in the 700 block of Creighton Avenue.
When their scheduled shift ended at 2:50 a.m., the officers canceled the stranded motorist call a minute later.
“It was later determined there was no ‘stranded motorist’ on Creighton Avenue,” officials wrote in the suspension documents. “(The officers were) untruthful when (they) created a fictitious call to avoid handling a late call, which caused an unnecessary delay for the police response to a citizen in need.”
The documents also reveal that the fictitious call “resulted in a criminal investigation,” though court records show neither have been criminally charged in connection with the investigation.
Records show that both officers have already been suspended in prior incidents this year.
Garza was suspended in February for making TikTok videos while on-duty, and Ybarra was suspended for a botched raid at a San Antonio hotel.