Authorities: Theft of UT flag led to chase, man getting stabbed
Homeowner chased man down after flag was taken off garage.
Homeowner was defending himself as he chased man who took flag off his garage, sheriff’s office says.
David Salinas Jr. was eating breakfast Thursday morning when he spotted two men walking past the front door of his Pflugerville-area home toward his garage.
He went outside and saw one of the men had taken the University of Texas flag he had secured to his garage for Saturday’s Notre Dame game.
“I told them, ‘Hey, drop it,’ and they ran,” Salinas said.
He chased them and caught up with one of the men about three or four houses away, where there was an SUV running with the doors open. The man, later identified by authorities as Emilio Castañeda-Cisneros, then began swinging the flagpole at Salinas and hit him in the arm.
Salinas told Castañeda-Cisneros he had a knife, and when Castañeda-Cisneros braced to hit him again, Salinas stabbed him with a 3-inch pocket knife, he said.
At that point, Castañeda-Cisneros dropped the flag, got into the SUV and was driven away, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. Authorities eventually found the car parked with Castañeda-Cisneros and his sister inside. Deputies took him to the hospital.
Even though the stabbing didn’t occur on his property, Salinas won’t be charged because he was defending himself, Travis County sheriff ’s office spokeswoman Lisa Block said. Additionally, she said, people in Texas have the right to pursue a person who has stolen their property.
“The gentleman had three opportunities to drop the flag: in the driveway, when I confronted him, and when they were running,” Salinas said. “He chose not to drop the property. Then he decid-
ed to escalate it. It was serious; he was not playing around. It was only at that point I felt I had no choice.”
Castañeda-Cisneros, 18, was treated for his injury and faces a felony charge of robbery by assault. He was in custody Friday afternoon with bail set at $20,000, Travis County jail records show. The other man is still at large.
Salinas said he has a hunch the men were going to use the flagpole to break into his garage because the neighborhood has had several break-ins in which burglars got in through garages, he said.
“If it was a crime of opportunity, I think they would’ve just parked, gotten the flag and taken off,” Salinas said. “To me, to leave a car running down the street, that looks like you’re trying to do something.”
Central Texas homeowners have been known to take the fight to perceived intruders, but sometimes those inci- dents have turned deadly:
In February 2012, Fred Yazdi fatally shot Enrique Recio as he tried to scale a fence outside of Yazdi’s home. Recio had been running through Yazdi’s Avery Ranch neighborhood after crashing his car. But in 2013, Yazdi was convicted of murder because the jury determined that Recio never posed any threat.
In January, South Austin resident John Daub shot and killed an autistic man named Jared James after he broke through the door of Daub’s home in an agitated state. No charges were filed against Daub, who told police he feared for his life and the safety of his wife and children.
“If I have any regrets, I regret that (Castañeda-Cisneros) got hurt,” Salinas said.
Salinas won’t be able to hang the flag outside his house on game day, he said. The police confiscated it as evidence.