EX-U.S. marshal slurred words, argued after fatal crash
Body camera and video evidence in an intoxication manslaughter trial established Friday that a then-deputy U.S marshal arrested following a wrong-way crash in 2020 was argumentative with a DWI task force officer and refused to consent to a blood draw.
Jonathan Paul Jones, 43, is charged in the drunken driving death of Taylor Angelle Mccowan, 23, who died two weeks after being critically injured in the head-on crash that occurred close to 1 a.m. on Jan. 31, 2020, on a Loop 1604 exit ramp near Babcock Road.
Mccowan, who was driving home from a Bible study, had to be cut out of her vehicle. She was taken to University Hospital and two weeks later died at Ben Taub Hospital in Houston.
San Antonio Police Department Officer Emilio De La Rosa, questioned by prosecutor Oscar Salinas on Thursday and Friday, described a field sobriety test he conducted after crash investigators suspected Jones was intoxicated because he entered the highway at an exit ramp.
Jurors watched video of De La Rosa testing Jones in the parking lot of a nearby gas station.
The officer placed Jones under arrest after he failed portions of the test, which looked at eye and heel-to-toe movement and the ability to stand tall and hold his arms at his side without swaying, stepping or falling.
In a police vehicle, video captured De La Rosa asking Jones numerous times if he would consent to having his blood drawn. De La Rosa read the form to Jones, but Jones would not answer whether he would agree to the procedure.
“I need to read the form,” Jones said. De La Rosa replied, “I have already read it to you.”
De La Rosa asked again if he would consent. In slurred words, Jones said he was trying to read it. De La Rosa continued to ask for consent, and each time, Jones would argue he needed to look at the order.
After many attempts, De La Rosa warned Jones that if he did not answer yes or no, he would take the silence as a no and would get a warrant for the blood draw.
Jones replied, “I hit my head.” “You were in a crash going the wrong way,” De La Rosa said.
“Yes, my mistake,” Jones said. “I hit my head, and you are asking me a bunch of questions.”
Jones became argumentative, asking De La Rosa his name and badge number and, several more times, why he was getting arrested.
“You were driving tonight and were behind the wheel, and because I have probable cause,” De La Rosa said, and then asked Jones how long he had been in law enforcement.
“What does that matter?” Jones told De La Rosa, who asked him again.
Jones then replied, “I can’t hear you. Sir, I told you I hit my head. Do you understand, yes or no?”
Jones continued to say he hit his head and that he was injured. De La Rosa obtained a warrant for Jones’ blood, and jurors saw a nurse extract it on a video.
Defense attorney Mark Thiessen took an almost sarcastic tone in questioning De La Rosa over the arrest and process that SAPD follows to administer field sobriety tests.
Thiessen challenged De La Rosa on the document that Jones said he tried to read. He drilled down sentence by sentence and said De La Rosa didn’t even understand it himself.
“These are big words,” Thiessen told De La Rosa.
The trial is being heard in the 144th District Court with Judge Michael Mery presiding. It is expected to last into next week.
If convicted, Jones faces up to 20 years in prison.