I don’t know about Texas, but around the public/community pools I have been, smoking is not allowed.
So if I talk with a lisp, or a French accent, I can get punched in the mouth for making a reasonable request?
Bryan Chu
Express-News
A San Antonio police officer was arrested Monday after an 18-year-old woman claimed that he punched her repeatedly at a community pool Sunday afternoon, an attack that she said came after she asked him to stub out a cigar he was smoking.
Detective Keith Alfaro was charged with second-degree aggravated assault, Police Chief William McManus said at a late-night news conference Monday. Alfaro, 35, also was charged with evading and resisting arrest.
Police said Alfaro, who was released from the Bexar County Jail late Monday after posting a $12,000 bond, will be placed on paid administrative duty pending the outcome of internal and criminal investigations.
"Any time these types of allegations are leveled against a police officer, they are concerning," said McManus, who would not comment on the details of the woman's claims. He deferred questions about the altercation to the Bexar County Sheriff's Department, which is conducting an investigation.
But Tamara Vaughan said she was so badly beaten that her face was red, black and blue, and that her arms remain swollen and bruised after the altercation that she said occurred at a community pool in the Village of Trinity Oaks, a gated community off U.S. 281 North outside Loop 1604.
Vaughan said she was swimming with four cousins when she noticed a man smoking a cigar, despite a rule that prohibits smoking within the pool fence. She said she asked the man, who was standing and talking on his cell phone, to stop.
Instead, she claimed, the man confronted her and punched her repeatedly. He also insulted her, Vaughan said, and attacked her ethnicity and sexual orientation.
"He told me: 'You (racial slur) need to go back to the East Side where you belong. Just because you think you have money, you think you can stay where y'all want,'" said Vaughan, who is Hispanic and African American. "Then he said, 'If you want to act like a man, (I'm going to) treat you like a man.' I was punched in the face with a closed fist. Before I could get up he was beating me in the head, neck, chin, and my arms. Then he choked me."
Sunday's alleged incident was not the first time Alfaro's conduct has come to the attention of police, McManus said.
"We've had some dealings with him in the past," he said, before quickly adding that he would not characterize the officer as one with a "troubled past."
McManus said the Police Department mandates a certain number of hours of sensitivity training through the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education. He said Alfaro, a 10-year veteran who was just promoted last year to a detective in the property crimes division, has gone through that training.
Vaughan said she was punched approximately 25 times. She was taken by EMS to North Central Baptist Hospital about 2:30 p.m.
Vaughan's cousin, Tylia Hopkins, 15, said she witnessed the encounter, and that the beating was "nonstop." She said she got out of the pool, jumped on her cousin's attacker and began "punching him."
"I was like, I gotta get this dude off her," Hopkins said.
The cousins said the man, who had Vaughan on the ground with his forearm at her throat, said he was going to make Vaughan pass out if Hopkins didn't get off. Hopkins did, but to no avail, they said, because the officer continued his assault until he finally stopped and walked away.
Vaughan's grandmother, Dina Bushrod, who lives a couple of blocks from the pool, said she received a call from Hopkins' mother after the alleged assault. So Bushrod and her nephew, Bill Shea, drove over and picked up her grandchildren from the pool. Bushrod said she looked for her granddaughter's attacker, and with the help of the grandchildren was able to spot him a few blocks away.
When Bushrod got out of her car to confront the man, he began threatening her and said he was a San Antonio police officer, she said. Shea, who is in his 30s, approached the man and was able to quell the situation, Bushrod said.
It wasn't immediately known who called police, but Bexar County sheriff's deputies arrived at the pool and tracked down the officer, Bushrod said. McManus confirmed that when deputies arrived Alfaro fled to his home.
A message left for a sheriff's official was not returned Monday.
No, you can't...or shouldn't.
However, it really helps to use the English language, and not some butchered version.
It helps with communication.