A Comal County jury will consider the fate of a New Braunfels man accused of running over two women with his pickup truck before assaulting law officers trying to arrest him in 2020.
Adrian Garza Jr.
On Thursday, the panel of 10 men and four women, including alternates, will hear closing arguments in Judge Dib Waldrip’s 433rd District Court. in the guilt or innocence phase of the trial for Adrian Garza Jr., on trial for several felony counts stemming from the incident.
Both of the women took the stand before Garza testified in his own defense on Wednesday. The jury will be considering their takes, along with videos and photos from the scene of the incident in a midtown hotel parking lot to Garza’s arrest across town during the early morning hours of June 1, 2020.
New Braunfels Police Department officers testified to arriving in the parking lot of the Howard Johnson’s in the 1100 block of Oasis Street around 1:06 a.m. Surveillance videos showed two females and their Corgi puppy exiting the hotel and walking into the lot before a dark-colored Dodge Ram pickup truck pulled into a slot next to their location.
“They attacked my truck when I parked,” Garza testified, adding he felt “scared” by the women, whom he said accused him of nearly hitting their dog and then themselves. He said both of them yelled obscenities and pounded on his truck.
Garza said his fear of them led him to put his truck in reverse to escape – and feeling the truck strike “speed bumps” while exiting the lot and speeding away.
Criminal District Attorney Jennifer Tharp and assistant prosecuting attorney Mark Long claimed Garza already knew that those “bumps” represented the two victims, both visiting from Corpus Christi.
The elder of the two, now 45, testified she had words and smacked Garza through the driver’s side window of his truck as he ran over her companion, who is now 32. Photos supported testimony from the younger woman, who was unable to recount what led to her injuries, first triaged in the hotel parking lot and surgically at San Antonio Military Medical Center.
Defense attorneys Glen Peterson and Vikash Bhakta hammered away at minor conflicting details in the both women’s testimony. Meanwhile, Tharp took aim against Garza’s recount of his arrest by NBPD officers in the 600 block of Creek Avenue about an hour after the initial report.
Video showed Garza’s profanity laced tirades against both officers, including his spitting in the direction of one officer and trying to head-butt and bite another officer.
“If you were scared of those ‘deranged’ women, then why weren’t you scared of the police?” Tharp asked the defendant time and again.
Garza apologized for his behavior and demeanor on the video – adding he was spitting in the officer’s general direction and kicking against the other officer – not meaning direct harm to either. He also admitted that his truck was the one that inflicted injuries to both women but wouldn’t define it was used as a ‘deadly weapon.’
Garza couldn’t come up with a solid reason why he failed to call 9-1-1 or report such an accident to arresting officers as required under state law. Tharp surprised the defendant by asking his role in a March 20, 2019 incident in which Garza allegedly ran over three people. Garza at first denied any role in the incident but after lunch he admitted that was a lie.
The jury panel has a full plate to consider, which is why Waldrip gave members time to relax and reflect before coming back fresh at 9 a.m. Thursday morning.
Garza is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury, leaving the scene of an accident involving serious bodily injury and assault against a police officer. The grand jury indictment, handed up Jan. 6, 2021, added charges of harassment of a public servant and retaliation – for spitting at, threatening and kicking the other NBPD officers.
Garza has been free on $72,500 bond since his release from the county lockup on June 23, 2020. The jury is free to consider lesser charges, but convictions on each second-degree felony charge carry between 2 and 20 years in prison and convictions on each third-degree charge carry terms of between 2 and 10 years. Fines on each conviction can total up to $10,000.
Source: https://herald-zeitung.com/community_alert/article_4013bfbe-8f8d-11ec-8537-430d4c16bfc7.html
