El Paso Police Department reinstates officer who shot and killed bodybuilder in custody

The El Paso Police Department has reinstated a police officer who shot and killed a bodybuilder while in custody.

Surveillance video shows Officer Jose Flores shooting bodybuilder Daniel Saenz in March 2013.

In a statement, El Paso City Attorney Sylvia Firth said Flores was reinstated to duty as a result of arbitration carried out in accordance with the terms of the El Paso Police Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Firth said a two-day hearing was held April, written briefs were submitted in July and the arbitrator issued his decision on Aug. 8, 2016.

Firth also said the arbitrator ruled, “that Officer Flores shall be returned to the El Paso Police Department with no loss of seniority, but with no back pay, effective one week from the date of this Award.

“His reinstatement to patrol duty, however, is contingent upon him passing any routine fitness for duty exam as well as his willingness to complete any training deemed appropriate by the Chief. ”

A grand jury with the 120th District Court in February 2014 did not return an indictment against Flores, but he was sued by Saenz’s family.

According to a March 2013 police report, officers arrested Saenz after an outburst at Del Sol Medical Center, where he was being treated for “extremely high” blood pressure.

The report states Saenz assaulted an elderly person and an off-duty police officer.

At the county jail, Saenz reportedly head butted the door and had to be returned to the hospital for treatment. Police say that is when he became aggressive and violent with police officers before Flores shot and killed Saenz.

The Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas, or CLEAT, which represented Flores, said in a 2014 statement that, “Officer Flores first reaches for his Taser. He decides not to deploy his Taser because Mr. Saenz earlier that same day had undergone five cycles of the Taser device, without effect.”

An autopsy report obtained by the ABC-7 I-Team stated Saenz had several toxic chemicals in his system at the time of the shooting back in 2013. The El Paso County Medical Examiner found evidence of the designer drug bath salts, steroids, and a supplement called DMAA in Saenz’s blood and urine.