El Paso Co. Detention Officer Arrested

An El Paso County detention officer has been suspended without pay following his arrest early Monday morning.

According to a Sheriff’s Office spokesman, 23-year-old Jesus David Vasquez was pulled over by a Horizon City police officer after reports that a man was shooting a gun in the air from a vehicle similar to Vasquez’s about 4 a.m.

When El Paso County sheriff’s deputies arrived, they said they saw “what appeared to be an empty bullet casing on the driver’s side floorboard,” in plain view.

According to a news release from the sheriff’s office, Vasquez was intoxicated and deputies also found a .380 handgun in the glove compartment and an almost fully loaded gun magazine in a gym bag. The gun was not his service weapon.

Vasquez has bonded out, according to sheriff’s spokesman Jesse Tovar.

Although he works for a law enforcement agency, Vasquez’s mug shot was released to the public because he is not a peace officer, Tovar said.