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But Dalhia Villarreal remembers the night of April 11 differently. Villarreal said police bullied and beat her, her father, her brother, her nephew and a neighbor. All five were arrested.
“I hate that night,” she said recently, sobbing while sitting at her mother’s plastic-wrapped kitchen table.
A grand jury last week rejected the charges of assaulting a public servant police filed against the family, District Attorney Stephen Tyler said. The grand jury said a disorderly conduct charge might have merit, but recommended Tyler not prosecute.
Tyler hasn’t seen any charges against the officers, he said.
An internal investigation cleared the officers of wrongdoing, Chief Bruce Ure said.
The Advocate requested police records from the investigation on Thursday. The city attorney is reviewing the photos, videos and written reports before they are released to the public, Capt. Roy Boyd said.
The Advocate requested a use of force report in April, after the family complained about the police. The Attorney General’s office ruled in June the city must release the use of force report.
Police fill out the aptly named reports when they use force – for example, if they threaten to shoot a gun, stun a suspect with a Taser or hit a suspect with hands or an asp baton, Ure said.
What happened in April
Photos of smiling relatives beam from walls and cabinets in Juanita and Santos Cano’s home. They’ve owned the figurine-packed house at 3002 Callis St. house for 35 years, and raised five kids there.
Typically, their grown children visit often. Villarreal lives just blocks away and, until April, she said, dropped by her parents’ home all the time.
Her older brother, 44-year-old Victor Cano, and his girlfriend brought Juanita and Santos Cano dinner on April 11.
“We’re so close, he brings me leftovers,” Juanita Cano said, teasing her son.
After Victor Cano went to his parents’ house that night, three men jumped the fence and attacked him, then his parents, he said.
Victor Cano’s girlfriend, Irma Garcia, called police.
Juanita Cano called Villarreal, who rushed over in her nightgown.
When police arrived, everyone was upset, according to a narrative in the use of force report, written by officer Gary Melson.
“We calmed the situation and had (the fire department) make the scene to check on the assault victims,” he wrote. “The assault victims refused treatment and then began letting VPD officers know what had happened.”
Villarreal was hysterical by the time she got to her parents’ house.
Villarreal sobbed and yelled at her sister, 43-year-old Irma Huerta, both said. Now, Villarreal’s face becomes covered in tears when she says she has a big mouth.
That night, Villarreal said, she told her sister the police weren’t doing their jobs and cursed them.
In Melson’s account, he writes that Villarreal rushed at officers, screaming.
“She continued screaming profanity, which is normally found to be offensive and continued quickly approaching us,” he wrote. “This started getting the crowd worked up again and inciting an immediate breach of the peace. I confronted the female to try and separate her from the others in the crowd.”
When she wouldn’t calm down, Melson wrote, he tried to arrest her for disorderly conduct, language.
“He was just shoving my face in the fence,” Villarreal said. “I said, ‘You’re hurting me.’ He was just shoving me. He said it was my fault because I wouldn’t keep my mouth shut.”
Victor Cano heard the fray as paramedics inspected his face under flashlight, he said. He reached behind his back, waving to officers.
“I told the officers, ‘We’ll control her,’” Cano said. “Next thing you know, I’m on the ground.”
Victor Cano charged police, yelling at them and screaming, according to the use of force report.
“At that time I focused my attention on him and took him to the ground,” Melson wrote. “When he was taken to the ground he rolled on to his back and I was on top of him at about chest level with his arms still uncontrolled. Once on the ground he continued to resist my efforts to control him, refusing to go to his stomach, preventing me from getting him handcuffed.”
Victor Cano remembers getting hit once and falling to the ground. He put his hands behind his back and told officers to go ahead and cuff him, he said. Melson did, then he picked up Cano and threw him to the ground, Cano said.
“He kept hitting me,” Cano said.
Juanita Cano saw her son’s eyes roll back in his head when it hit the pavement, she said.
As Melson hit Victor Cano, his father said he expected other officers to help his son. They never did, Santos Cano said.
Even at 65, Santos Cano seems to pack more brawn than this 4 feet, 11 inch frame. He doesn’t deny his criminal record – which includes attempted murder charges from 1991.
Watching an officer straddle his son and swing away upset him, he said. He ran over to push 26-year-old Melson off, he said.
Santos Cano hit Melson, while Villarreal jumped on him, according to the use of force report.
“If I’d have kicked him, he’d have known it,” Santos Cano said.
Santos Cano remembers clubs “raining down on me.” Then, an officer stunned him with a Taser, according to both Santos Cano and police.
As the brawl continued, Morris Valentine, an 18-year-old neighbor, said he approached police. He tried to tell them to stop hitting the Canos, he said.
“I asked them to stop,” Valentine said. “I was trying to help them.”
Earlier, Valentine had seen three men attacking Victor Cano, so he hopped on his bike and followed the three as they ran.
As police tried to handcuff Victor Cano, Melson wrote, Valentine walked over and grabbed a hold of him. Valentine was in the way, although officers told him to back up, the report says.
Officer Stephen Lang stunned Valentine with a Taser three or four times – five seconds each jolt – Lang wrote in another section of the report.
Valentine, Villarreal, Victor and Santos Cano were arrested. So was Huerta’s 19-year-old son, Joe Huerta. Huerta was yelling profanities, according to the report, calling his outburst “an immediate breach of peace.”
Villarreal begged officers to let her change, she said. Her nightgown was soaked. She lowered her eyes and her voice as she described her condition.
“I was so scared, I peed myself,” she said. The embarrassment Villarreal felt before jailers let her change out of the sodden clothes still stings.
“I was really embarrassed,” said Villarreal. “Every time I see a cop, I get scared or cry.”
Her young son recently told her he didn’t like police because they hurt his grandfather and uncle.
“We don’t teach them that,” Juanita Cano said. “They’re supposed to be there to protect them.”
Villarreal has never been arrested before, she said. District court records show no criminal charges against her. Her brother went to prison after pleading guilty to criminal mischief, according to records. Records show Santos Cano unlawfully carried a firearm after he was convicted of attempted murder.
“This is not the first time I’ve been in trouble,” Santos Cano said. But he’s never hit a cop and he’s never lied, he said.
Police damaged his family on April 11, Cano said, comforting his daughter as she sobbed at the memories. Villarreal, 36, won’t return to school because she’s ashamed of the fracas, she said.
Victor Cano’s neck aches – an MRI shows his vertebrae are damaged. Santos Cano’s shoulder was injured, he said.
“They messed up my brain,” Santos Cano said. “Because I’m always thinking about this.”
Leslie Wilber is a reporter for the Victoria Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6521 or e-mail her at lwilber@vicad.com or comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com