SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio Police Officers' Association president Danny Diaz said “chaotic” is the only way he can describe Wednesday night.
“Something needs to change,” Diaz said. “It’s a detriment to this community.”
Seven San Antonio police officers were injured during a shooting on the city’s North Side. Diaz said the shooting shows Bexar County’s problem of keeping violent repeat offenders locked up.
>LATEST: 7 SAPD officers injured in Stone Oak shooting, suspect killed>
“We’re all for giving people chances,” Diaz said. “But when it comes to three, four, five, 10 or 25 chances and you’re giving them chances from incidents where they hurt individuals … that’s gone (sic) too far."
The shooting happened when officers responded to a suicide-in-progress call just before 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at an apartment complex on Stone Oak Parkway. The suspect, Brandon Poulos, shot officers and barricaded himself for more than six hours before being found dead.
>>What we know about Brandon Poulos, the man accused of shooting 7 SAPD officers in Stone Oak
Diaz called the recent spate of violence against officers “unacceptable.”
“It’s due time that something is done,” Diaz said.
Poulos, who had a lengthy criminal history, had his most recent arrest on Saturday. He was released on bond at the time of Wednesday’s shooting, San Antonio police said.
Diaz said he’s calling on Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales to prosecute more violent offenders and ask magistrate judges for higher bond amounts.
After the interview with Diaz, KSAT contacted the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office. A spokesperson said, under Texas law, a person is entitled to bond unless circumstances prevent their release.
“On the day Mr. Poulos was magistrated, there was no violation of a protective order filed so Bexar County could not hold him on that charge,” a spokesperson for the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office said. “Our information indicates he was not served with a Comal County protective order until the same day of January 19th while he was in custody in Bexar County. It appears that he did not violate the protective order until after his release which triggered the filing of a new case by Comal County.”
After the initial statement, KSAT followed up with the DA’s office, asking whether or not Gonzales asked for a higher bond for Poulos.
The DA’s office said two of his four bonds this week were “reduced by 50% by the magistrate judge.”
“In this case, we recommended a $15,000 bond on each of 2 injury to elderly cases. We recommended a $5,000 bond on a DWI-2nd that was reduced to $2,500 and an additional $5,000 bond on a family violence assault which was also reduced by 50%,” a Bexar County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson said.
Diaz also called on Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar to alter policies that restrict the acceptance of certain individuals into the county jail due to medical conditions.
In response, a spokesperson for the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said Diaz’s claims were “inaccurate” and irrelevant to this case.
“This policy only applies to prisoners brought to the facility who exhibit specific medical symptoms and require hospital clearance. It does not prevent an agency from making an arrest,” a sheriff’s office spokesperson said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the officers injured in yesterday’s shooting.”
Diaz said he spent most of the day Thursday in the hospital checking on the injured officers. As of Thursday night, only one officer was still admitted.
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