Former officer facing charges is found dead
A Houston police officer charged last year with intoxication manslaughter has been found dead in his home, according to the Fort Bend County Sheriff ’s Office.
Fort Bend authorities arrested James Combs last August on suspicion of driving drunk and crashing into another vehicle, killing the driver, 36-yearold Brian Manring. Combs was 33 at the time.
Combs, who no longer worked for the Houston Police Department, was later released on bail.
But that bail was revoked Friday and a warrant was issued for his arrest, court records show.
The defendant allegedly had failed several of his bond conditions, according to court records. He failed a urine test for alcohol on July 13. He failed a breath-analysis test the morning of May 8 and again on July 20.
His attorney, Mark Thiessen, on Friday morning planned to argue that those readings did not prove Combs had been drinking alcohol. They can be faulty and affected by other factors, like food or cologne, he said.
But Combs, who had been expressing to Thiessen that he wasn’t sure how much more he could handle, did not show up for the morning hearing Friday, Thiessen said.
“It was a red siren to me,” Thiessen said.
The judge consequently raised the bail to $150,000, from $100,000.
When Thiessen on Friday reached Combs to tell him he would have to post a new bond, he said Combs seemed despondent. As the day continued on, Thiessen said he learned that Combs, a military veteran, took his life.
“The stress of all this, and the guilt, it just left him hopeless and completely exhausted and depleted,” Thiessen said. “This accident ripped apart two families.”
Fort Bend County spokesperson Caitilin Espinosa said no further details on the circumstances of the death would be released.