July 13, 2018 • Local News
El Paso police Chief Greg Allen responds to officer drawing gun on children
El Paso police Chief Greg Allen on Thursday addressed the viral video of a police officer pointing his gun at cursing children.
In a video posted on the city of El Paso's Twitter account, Allen said, "My fellow citizens, on July 5, on the 6700 block of Sambrano, an El Paso Police Department officer was shown to produce his firearm in a viral video where he pointed it at children.
"Due to that event, an expedited investigation by our Internal Affairs division is underway. Extra resources have been added to this investigation. Witnesses and officers are now giving statements to that event. Nonetheless, this is a time-consuming process."
He added, "The findings of this investigation will be presented to a discipline review board, which was created by myself in 2010. The composition of this review board consists of five sworn members of the El Paso Police Department, plus five civilians from the community. After the discipline review board concludes its hearings of that investigation, the facts will be presented to myself.
"A final determination will be made at that time. The facts of that determination will be presented to the public also at that time," Allen said.
Allen also addressed concerns related to the affidavit filed by police over the arrest of Julian Saucedo, 17, which didn't mention the officer drawing his weapon.
The police chief said the facts of the affidavit are for probable cause related to the person arrested — elements of the offense that are presented to a magistrate or judge.
“The officer’s actions are not part of that affidavit,” Allen said in the video.
Allen said the pointing of the weapon did not pertain to the affidavit because it only pertains to the person being arrested.
“The facts of the weapon being produced have been found in the overall police report documenting the entire event,” Allen said.
The police report was not available to the public at the time of the affidavit’s release.
Saucedo was arrested after video recording the arrest of his younger brother, Jacob Saucedo, outside the Seville Recreation Center in South-Central El Paso.
On Wednesday, Julian Saucedo appeared before County Criminal Court 2 Judge Robert S. Anchondo at an arraignment hearing to ask that his bond be reduced. He is charged with interfering with an officer and was unable to pay the $300 bond required for his release.
Saucedo, who will be a junior at Jefferson High School in the fall, said he had no money to pay the bond and that neither of his parents had jobs to help him post bail.
Saucedo’s lawyer, Manuel Enrique Martin, asked Anchondo to change his client's bond from a surety bond to a personal recognizance bond.
With a surety bond, a defendant must pay some or all of the bond to be released. With a personal recognizance bond, a defendant can be released without paying any money but must abide by conditions set by a judge.
Anchondo, who called the charge against Saucedo a "serious offense," agreed to change the $300 surety bond to a $1,000 personal recognizance bond.
El Paso County Jail records show Julian Saucedo was released Thursday.
Jacob Saucedo was released from the El Paso County Juvenile Detention Center on Sunday, according to his mother, Elizabeth Flores.
Saucedo was booked into the El Paso County Jail on July 6 on suspicion of interfering with a police officer as officers were responding to a report of criminal trespassing at an apartment complex at 6719 Sambrano Ave., near the Seville Recreation Center.
As police tried to detain and question a group of juveniles, the youths began to curse at the officers. Flores said the video recording began after an officer choked Jacob Saucedo and forced him to the ground. She said that is what instigated the outburst by the children and herself.
In the video, which had more than 7 million views as of Thursday night and more than 69,000 shares on Facebook, an El Paso police officer can be seen holding Jacob Saucedo's head against a rock wall and placing his knee against the teen's throat before another officer arrives and helps pull him into the street, where he is handcuffed.
Julian Saucedo continues to record the incident before the officer grabs him as he stands in the street. He then hands the cellphone to his mother before he is handcuffed. She continues to record the incident. She is chased by a police officer, who tells her, "I know where you live."
She returns and continues to record the incident and eventually other officers arrive.
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