Amid criticism that his department operates under a veil of secrecy and refuses to adopt reform measures, VIA Transit Police Chief Mark Witherell said the agency will not create a critical incident video release policy or outright ban the use of chokeholds.

The Edwards County constable has been indicted on accusations that he fled from the scene of a car crash after damaging another vehicle, court records obtained Monday evening by the KSAT 12 Defenders show.

The footage, recorded Aug. 16 by a security camera inside Armadillos Antiques N More, shows Councilman Douglas Gregory berate the women for 12 minutes, after he believed they had racially profiled a man he identified as his “constituent and friend” earlier that day.

Sixteen months later, Paul Cancino has been forced to spend five figures out of pocket to replace the HVAC system and is on the brink of taking legal action against a company he thought would protect him against these exact type of home ownership expenses.

The agreement, which calls for coach Joe Lepsis to remain on “professional leave” from his position as athletic coordinator, caps off a bizarre departure for a coach who led the New Braunfels high school to an 11-win season in 2020.

A San Antonio nonprofit for pregnant women and young parents that instead used money on a West Side smoke shop and out of state trips is among the biggest recipients of funding from the state program that backs it, records obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders show.

Long list of questionable purchases by state-funded organization called ‘an egregious misuse of tax dollars’ by lawmaker

The city’s chief equity officer submitted her resignation earlier this year while being investigated for a hostile work environment complaint, records obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders show.

CPS Energy has now spent over $7 million on outside attorneys and consultants to fight natural gas bills it racked up during February’s winter storm, records obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders show.

A San Marcos Police Department sergeant, who was returned to duty late last year without being arrested or disciplined for causing a fatal crash, is at the center of another controversy involving misconduct, records obtained by KSAT 12 Defenders show.

Joaquin Jasso was given a final termination notice in October, after a city investigation determined he “aggressively applied strikes” to the head of a prisoner in custody at the city magistrate’s office.

A Guadalupe County court-at-law judge was “heavily intoxicated” and in an enraged state when he forced his way into a home, striking his baby son with a door, arrest affidavits released to the KSAT 12 Defenders show.

Facing a billion-dollar financial hole from February’s deadly winter storm, CPS Energy has now spent over $2.5 million in outside fees to fight those bills, records obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders show.

Sixteen fired San Antonio police officers, some of whom have been off the job for over a year, are now pending arbitration amid a growing backlog of cases, city records obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders show.

CPS Energy, the nation’s largest municipally owned utility company, gets its weather forecasts from a college student who has not been compensated more than $716 in a single week, invoices obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders show.

San Antonio police officers were forced to assign themselves to a shooting call at San Antonio International Airport Thursday, after a series of errors from a dispatcher, records and audio obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders show.

An officer with the Harlandale Independent School District Police Department said she was denied promotions and placed in danger on the job after refusing repeated invites from the chief to hang out at his property off duty, federal court records obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders show.

The filing of the suit by the family of Hannah Westall comes a day before the two-year anniversary of the shooting. Westall, 26, was reaching for a non-functional replica Uzi BB gun on March 20, 2019, when SAPD Sgt. David Perry repeatedly shot her. The dash camera video of the shooting instead shows Westall repeatedly being shot and the weapon falling behind her without it ever pointing at the officer. AdIn October 2018, after an SAPD officer shot and killed someone inside a home in the 200 block of Roberts Street, McManus said the person killed was armed and a threat to the officer.

SAN ANTONIO – A lawsuit filed in Bexar County district court last month by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton calls for San Antonio Police Department Chief William McManus to be removed from office over his handling of a 2017 immigrant release incident. On Tuesday, a Defenders investigation revealed the city has already spent more than $2.75 million defending McManus and SAPD as it fights a sanctuary cities lawsuit filed by Paxton over the same 2017 incident. The suit claims McManus limited the enforcement of federal immigration laws in December 2017, when he made the decision to release 12 suspected undocumented immigrants found inside a tractor-trailer on the East Side, instead of handing them over to federal immigration officials. San Antonio City Attorney Andy Segovia (left) and SAPD Chief William McManus (right). RELATED: Texas AG alleges San Antonio mayor told staff to not contact ICE, flouting SB 4 law

SAN ANTONIO – The City of San Antonio has now spent more than $2.75 million in outside attorney fees to fight a sanctuary cities lawsuit filed by the state against Chief William McManus, the police department and the city, records obtained by KSAT 12 Defenders show. The filing claims high-ranking city officials were told “the Mayor does not want ICE called,” and that Nirenberg later described their release without being handed over to federal immigration officials as a “Christmas gift” for their families. City officials have repeatedly refused in recent months to make Segovia available for an interview about the suit. AdDepositions were still being gathered as recently as early this month, court records confirm. AdNichols was given probation in the case in May 2019, according to court records.

The May killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police sparked international protests, including weeks of demonstrations in San Antonio. Just yelling, yelling in their faces,” said Fix SAPD Deputy Director Ananda Tomas, who added that it was far from an isolated incident. It impacts us in a great way when we have a bully that just will not let San Antonio be, will not let San Antonio speak.”Ad“(SAPOA is) a club. Back SA Blue social media accounts have used pictures of Fix SAPD petitioners in many of their posts. Martin said any repeal measures pushed by Fix SAPD would only apply to SAPD, and not to other first responders in San Antonio.

SAN ANTONIO – A longtime San Antonio Municipal Court judge said she resigned last summer after the court’s presiding judge targeted and retaliated against her for also applying for the court’s top position, city records obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders show. AdFormer Municipal Court Judge Christine D. Lacy. Ad“Not only are her comments untrue but they demonstrate a lack of professionalism,” wrote Obledo. Thank you for your continued interest in SAMC (San Antonio Municipal Court).”Lacy, who also works as an attorney, had served as a city judge since 2008. For years now, I’ve noticed that judges refer to the staff that has been assigned to them as ‘their staff.’ Clerks are court staff and are assigned to a court just as judges are assigned to a court.

SAN ANTONIO – Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar fired more than 100 deputies during his first term in office and only a handful were able to win back their jobs, records obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders show. The termination records, which cover 2017 through the end of last year, show that 102 deputies were dismissed from the agency. Only five deputies were ever reinstated, either through civil service or a court order, the records show. The money went to a detention deputy who was fired and then reinstated in 2019. Only two of the reinstated deputies, Sgt.

Sources confirmed that there is an active arrest warrant for Jonathan Pena, the general manager of the Capisce Gentlemen's Club. SAN ANTONIO – A Northeast Side strip club general manager, who is also the son of the Elmendorf police chief, is wanted for his role in a brutal beating caught on camera outside the club. Sources confirmed to the KSAT 12 Defenders that there is an active arrest warrant for Jonathan Pena, 27. Court records showed Jonathan Pena was last arrested in 2016 and charged with causing injury to a child. Jonathan Pena was also previously charged with impersonating a public servant in 2012.

Wolfe was arrested and charged with multiple felonies in Gillespie County in August 2019, months after the Defenders uncovered issues with his now-shuttered construction company. Hill Country contractor arrested months after Defenders exposed himHe is awaiting trial for theft of property between $150,000 and $300,000, a second-degree felony, misapplication of fiduciary property over $300,000, a first-degree felony, and two third-degree felony counts of exploitation of the elderly. Multiple former clients of Wolfe told the Defenders he took payments for work and then abandoned the projects before they were completed. A sergeant with the Gillespie County Sheriff’s Office told the Defenders in 2019 that he was, at one point, working seven criminal cases against Wolfe. The state attorney general’s office eventually took over the case because it had the resources to properly handle it, Gillespie County officials said.

SCHERTZ, Texas – A former Schertz Police Department corporal charged with secretly recording a teenager earlier this year now faces steeper federal charges of possessing and producing child pornography, court records obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders show. Ricardo Aleman, 42, was arrested on the federal charges Nov. 23 and was arraigned in U.S. District Court Wednesday afternoon, according to court records. He is accused of coercing a teenager into engaging in sexually explicit conduct between mid-April and late August last year, according to Aleman’s federal indictment. He is also accused of possessing a portable hard drive that contained child pornography, records show. Aleman’s federal paperwork did not state whether the new charges stem from the Rangers’ original investigation of him.

SAN ANTONIO – A Bexar County employee was promoted to a senior analyst position this summer, the same day officials handed a proposed termination to a co-worker she had recently testified against in a disciplinary case. Records show a veteran Bexar County employee was given a proposed termination the same day a co-worker who testified against her was given a promotion. Fourth EEOC complaint filed against Smith-DeanMultiple sources confirm a longtime county employee this month filed a federal employment complaint against the county, which specifically names Smith-Dean. County officials claim Millan was reassigned because she was uniquely qualified to help several county agencies manage COVID-19 related expenditures. County officials did not provide a list of Gaitan’s additional duties or work she had been doing outside the scope of her position’s description.

SAN ANTONIO A San Antonio Police detective was suspended 30 days this summer after making a social media post in which he called Colin Kaepernick a terrorist sympathizer and asked when the former National Football League quarterback could be killed, SAPD records confirm. A screenshot of the early January post from Detective Joseph Fech was sent to the KSAT 12 Defenders, who then asked SAPD officials if they were aware of it. SAPD discipline records show Fech was given a 30-day suspension in late June, which he then served from early July through early August. America militarism is the weapon wielded by American imperialism, to enforce its policing and plundering of the non white world, wrote Kaepernick. America militarism is the weapon wielded by American imperialism, to enforce its policing and plundering of the non white world.

SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio police dash camera video obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders contradicts the department’s long-held narrative that a woman shot and killed by an SAPD sergeant in early 2019 had pointed a weapon at him prior to being shot. Dash camera video of the shooting, however, shows Westall repeatedly being shot and the weapon falling behind her without it ever pointing at the officer. Photos taken by SAPD personnel at the scene showed that the weapon carried by Westall, 26, was a replica Uzi BB gun. To say it’s a false narrative is awfully kind when you have video evidence that completely contradicts your statement. Charles Roundtree was shot and killed by an SAPD officer in Oct. 2018.

SAN ANTONIO Less than 20% of Bexar County employees offered early retirement packages earlier this year have opted into the program, according to figures obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders Thursday. Of the 722 eligible employees, 117 applied for the early retirement incentive program prior to the July 31 deadline, amounting to roughly 16%. Officials have not said how much money the early retirements could save the county moving forward. Using those figures, 117 early retirements would save the county approximately $9.27 million a year. Constables budget proposal would shift 100+ positions from Bexar County Sheriffs Office to his agencyCounty budget officials instituted a hiring freeze in April, limited discretionary spending and have suspended economic development incentives.

SAN ANTONIO A Bexar County detention officer who found an inmate unresponsive early Sunday was delayed in reporting the medical emergency because his handheld radio was not charged, a facility incident report obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders confirms. The inmate, 41-year-old Eric McCuiston, was pronounced dead around 1:45 a.m. Sunday. The officer attempted to initiate a Code One Blue via and held radio, but it had no charge, the report states. His cause and manner of death are still pending, an official with the Bexar County Medical Examiners Office said Monday. McCuiston had been booked for an out of county warrant from Nueces County for possession of a controlled substance, a third-degree felony.

SAN ANTONIO The family of a longtime nursing assistant at the San Antonio State Hospital confirmed this week that she died of COVID-19 complications. An email sent by the hospitals chief nurse executive last week confirmed the COVID-19 resurgence forced nursing employees into an emergency staffing level. State and hospital officials have not said how many staff members and residents have contracted the virus at the facility. Visitation restrictions to our state hospitals were implemented on March 13. Temperature checks on staff and essential visitors before entry to San Antonio State Hospital began on March 16 and remain in place.

Dillon Collier is an investigative reporter for the KSAT 12 Defenders. He is a two-time Houston Press Club Journalist of the Year and a Texas Associated Press Broadcasters Reporter of the Year.

SAN ANTONIO – Bexar County budget employees who last year questioned why a justice of the peace continued to collect full-time pay were instructed to leave the increase in place, emails obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders show. Bexar County Budget Director Seth McCabe. This budget slide from an August 2019 Commissioners Court meeting shows a decrease in workload for Bexar County Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 last fiscal year. Bexar County Precinct 1. I believe it was very unprofessional,” said one employee, who remembered members of the public watching as Judge Rodriguez raised his voice to staff members.

SAN ANTONIO Bexar County Budget Director Seth McCabe has resigned his position, a memo obtained Wednesday by the KSAT 12 Defenders confirms. The resignation of McCabe, who worked more than 12 years for the county, is effective May 14 and comes in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic that has greatly hindered the countys finances. Bexar County Manager David Smith sent a memo to all county offices and departments last month announcing a hiring freeze and a county-wide halt on capital projects. Bexar Countys annual budget could be in $100-million hole amid COVID-19 pandemic, memo saysSmiths memo indicated the county budget team estimates the potential impact to Bexar Countys general fund budget could be $70 to $100 million -- a revenue loss of 14% to 20% -- and it could be worse than that if the pandemic continues. In an email sent to county staff members Wednesday morning, Assistant County Manager Tina Smith-Dean said McCabe did great work for the county and would use terminal leave from now until May 14.

Rideshare drivers expose deplorable condition of portable toilets at San Antonio International AirportPublished: February 5, 2020, 10:43 pmSan Antonio International Airport officials have promised to take action after the KSAT 12 Defenders were provided photos and videos of the unsanitary conditions area rideshare drivers are forced to endure when using portable toilets at the airport's official rideshare lot.

SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio International Airport officials have promised to take action after the KSAT 12 Defenders were provided photos and videos of the unsanitary conditions area rideshare drivers are forced to endure when using portable toilets at the airport’s official rideshare lot. Rideshare drivers have complained about the condition of portable toilets at San Antonio International Airport. The city can provide better facilities.”City officials have vowed to address the condition of the portable toilets at San Antonio International Airport. (KSAT)As a comparison, Michael provided the Defenders videos of the facilities for rideshare drivers who take people to and from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. San Antonio International Airport officials did not respond to multiple requests to provide an interview for this story.

Footage recorded during a Tejano Democrats event in late September shows Rodriguez introducing his daughter, Xochil Pena Rodriguez. Judge Ciro Rodriguez introduces his daughter, Xochil Pena Rodriguez, during a Tejano Democrats event. Judge Ciro Rodriguez hands out campaign literature for his daughter's run for the Texas Senate in early October. Here is a transcript of that message:Dillon, this is Ciro Rodriguez, Judge Rodriguez, and let me apologize, you know. So this is Judge Rodriguez (phone number redacted.)

WATCH: Judge campaigns for daughter in state senate race; appears to violate state judicial code of conductPublished: December 5, 2019, 10:41 amUndercover videos obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders show Bexar County Justice of the Peace Ciro Rodriguez campaigning for his daughter, a candidate for Texas Senate District 19, despite state laws forbidding judges from campaigning on behalf of another person.

Barrientes Vela remains under criminal investigation for a long list of incidents that took place during her nearly three years in office. The store manager told deputies she forced the man to leave the shop after recognizing him as previously stealing shoes and deodorant. The man left the location but then contacted Barrientes Vela, the report states. “I mean I am pretty sure, I recognized his face when he walked in,” the manager told deputies, according to the report. The Family Dollar incident is not the first time Barrientes Vela has been accused of using agency resources to aid members of her immediate family.

The smell was later determined to be from the airbags of Huizar's vehicle being deployed, according to Leon Valley records. Leon Valley police also provided the Defenders photos taken inside Huizar's vehicle after it was towed from the scene. My Office handles all complaints against Deputies within my Office (Bexar County Constable Office Pct. The initial request remains pending, according to the county's open records portal, but Precinct 2 has not provided any additional records from the crash. Court records show Huizar was arrested for misdemeanor marijuana possession in March 2018 and remains out on bond in that unrelated case.

Video provided to the KSAT 12 Defenders challenges a Bexar County constable’s testimony last year that a deputy constable came at her while receiving a verbal reprimand. That's what we're having a problem with," Barrientes Vela said on the recording. AdThe legal dispute is one of at least three pitting Barrientes Vela against current and former members of her agency. Last month, two current Precinct 2 deputy constables, Jesse Garcia and Raymond Ford, sued the constable for alleged defamation. AdRaymond Ford vs Constable Michelle Barrientes Vela - 2018CI02586An attorney representing both deputies did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

SAN ANTONIO – Vehicle records obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders show a captain with the Bexar County Precinct 2 Constable’s Office signed in, then used a county vehicle before he was commissioned by the agency. "You have no police law enforcement power just because you graduated an academy," Bryan said. TCOLE records show Castillo is a licensed peace officer whose commission was previously held by the Bexar County Sheriff's Office. Some of the employees described the work environment under Barrientes Vela during her first three months in office as "toxic." Law enforcement professionals have long said that patrol vehicles parked in neighborhoods, particularly at night, are a simple crime deterrent.