SAN ANTONIO – A former San Antonio police officer who resigned months after being arrested in connection with a 2021 drunk driving hit-and-run case has again been charged with DWI, records obtained by KSAT Investigates show.
Dezi Rios, 42, was arrested by SAPD early Wednesday morning along Loop 410 near McCullough Avenue, north of downtown.
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After officers conducted a traffic stop on Rios' vehicle sometime before 3 a.m., Rios refused to perform standard field sobriety tests and was then taken into custody on suspicion of DWI, according to preliminary information released by SAPD Thursday.
Rios then requested that an officer review footage of Rios' interactions with one of the arresting officers, according to records from his arrest viewed by KSAT.
After being informed that the footage would first need to be loaded into the system, Rios said he would sue SAPD if he was taken to jail, according to records.
Rios was booked into jail on a misdemeanor DWI charge and then magistrated Wednesday afternoon, jail records show.
He has since been released on bond.
Rios is scheduled to be arraigned in County Court 11 on March 4, court records show.
Rios cleared of criminal wrongdoing following 2021 crash
Wednesday’s arrest was the former SAPD officer’s latest run-in with the law.
Rios was charged with DWI and failure to stop and provide information in July 2021 after SAPD investigators said he crashed into another driver’s vehicle stopped at a red light at the intersection of O’Connor and Stahl Roads and fled the scene.
After the other driver pursued Rios, Rios crashed his vehicle into a curb under the overpass at Bulverde Road and Loop 1604, and the two men were involved in a physical altercation, SAPD officials previously said.
The other driver, Ara Halibian, told KSAT days after the incident that he suffered a broken nose, significant trauma to his face and injuries to his shoulder, elbow and knee after being punched by Rios — according to Halibian’s count — between 20-25 times.
Rios resigned from SAPD in November 2021 while on suspension without pay.
The DWI charge against Rios was dismissed in May 2023, while the failure to stop and provide information charge was dismissed weeks later, court records show.
Shootout outside strip club
Rios was shot six times during a shootout outside All-Stars Gentlemen’s Club in May 2018, following a rolling altercation with another driver that started on Interstate 10 East and concluded after both men pulled into the Northwest Side parking lot.
The other driver, DeMontae Walker, was shot eight times during the exchange of gunfire, and was paralyzed from the waist down.
A woman riding in Walker’s car was grazed in the head by a bullet but was able to run from the chaotic scene and seek medical attention inside the club.
Walker, who spent more than three months in the hospital, was originally charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
However, a grand jury in December 2018 declined to indict him.
Rios, who was hospitalized but recovered and later returned to full duty, was issued a 15-day suspension after the shooting and transferred out of his role as a training instructor at SAPD’s academy.
Rios avoided being criminally charged, however, despite being in possession of a firearm while under the influence of intoxicants.
‘He’s lucky he didn’t get smoked’
In August 2017, Rios was involved in yet another unrelated driving encounter near downtown.
A man was driving in the outside lane of U.S. Highway 281 South when Rios, in a rental vehicle, attempted to merge into his lane, according to an SAPD incident report.
While Rios told investigators the other driver sped up to block him from merging, the man told KSAT that Rios was the aggressor, repeatedly swerving his vehicle and nearly hitting the front bumper of his vehicle.
“I could tell in a way he was mocking me or laughing about it. Kind of a smug sort of demeanor to him,” the man previously told KSAT.
Rios told investigators that the other driver lifted up a firearm and pointed it at him, causing Rios to fear for his safety. Rios then called 911 and followed the man until on-duty officers pulled over the man on the on-ramp from Interstate 37 South to Interstate 10 West.
Body-worn camera footage from officers who responded to the 2017 scene showed Rios repeatedly clenching his fists.
Rios told the officers that he reached for his department-issued service pistol in his passenger seat, but then realized it was in the back area of his rented vehicle.
“He’s lucky he didn’t get smoked,” Rios was recorded saying on a fellow officer’s body-worn camera after being allowed to sit in the front seat of a patrol vehicle while officers conducted their investigation.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.