Assault charge against ex-deputy dismissed
The first-degree felony assault charge against a former Harris County sheriff’s deputy was dismissed Tuesday, nearly four years after the deputy was accused of hitting an alleged speeder in the face after chasing him in a personal vehicle.
Sgt. Marco Carrizales, 39, was initially indicted on a charge of aggravated assault by a public servant after he reportedly hit Ismael Garza Jr. in the face on Oct. 18, 2015 with an “unknown object.”
At the time, Carrizales was working an extra job, in uniform, directing traffic at the LyondellBasell plant near the Pasadena Freeway. Deputies said Garza drove through a stop sign at “highway speeds” when Carrizales jumped into his personal truck and pursued him, despite not having lights or sirens.
Carrizales was tried last February, but a judge declared a mistrial with a hung jury that voted 11-1 for not guilty. The Harris County County District Attorney’s Office said after 23 hours of testimony in that trial, they decided Tuesday to file a motion to dismiss the charge.
“Every case is unique and in this case, the defendant was off duty and working an extra job and there was no body camera or other video evidence,” DA’s Office spokesman Dane Schiller said. “After a thorough evaluation, we decided to not go back to trial in this matter.”
Carrizales’ attorney, Cordt Akers, said the verdict was “a long time coming.”
“Sgt. Carrizales has been fighting for his exoneration for the better part of four years, and no one deserves it more,” Akers said. “We’re happy to see a good man and a good cop get a good result.”
During the initial trial, Garza testified that he fled from police because he didn’t know Carrizales was a deputy driving a personal truck.
Garza claimed he thought the deputy was a car jacker. At the end of the pursuit, he said Carrizales forced him to his knees at gunpoint before hitting him in the face, leaving him with a fractured eye socket.
During the trial, Carrizales’ defense team insisted Garza had a long history of fighting and evading police and knew he was fleeing from a law officer after running a stop sign.
Carrizales eventually arrested Garza and charged him with resisting arrest and evading a police officer. Both of those charges were later dropped. The deputy was suspended without pay for 10 days and ordered to serve a sixmonth probationary period that prohibited him from working extra-duty jobs, the sheriff’s office previously told the Houston Chronicle.
After his indictment, Carrizales was assigned to civilian status and worked for the sheriff’s office in a non-law enforcement capacity, according to earlier reports in the Chronicle.
It’s unclear whether he’ll be allowed to return to law enforcement in light of the dismissal, but David Cuevas, president of the Harris County Deputies Organization, believes he should be reinstated.
“I think it’s a miscarriage of justice that Sgt. Carrizales had to go through what he went through,” he said.