Teen seen in viral video involving officer shows up nearly 3 hours late to court hearing
One of the teenagers seen being arrested in a viral video showing a police officer pulling a gun on a group of kids appeared before a judge at the County Criminal Courthouse Wednesday morning.
17-year-old Julian Saucedo, scheduled to see the judge at 8:30 in the morning, showed up nearly three hours late.
Saucedo and his attorney, Enrique Martin, were called up just before 10:30 a.m. When Judge Robert Anchondo asked Martin where his client was, the attorney said he didn’t know. “I’ve been calling and texting him,” the attorney told the judge. Judge Anchondo gave Saucedo until 11:30 a.m. to arrive at the court or he would issue a warrant for Saucedo’s arrest.
Saucedo showed up at about 11:27 A.M. just three minutes before the judge’s deadline. When asked where he was, Saucedo said he was registering for school.
On July 5, 2018, a police officer responded to a criminal trespass and criminal mischief call shortly after 6 p.m. at an apartment complex at 6719 Sambrano. The officers spotted a group of juveniles near the scene and stopped them for questioning. In a video that went viral on social media, the police officer is seen pulling out a gun at the belligerent group of kids, then taking Saucedo into custody.
A review board is investigating the actions of El Paso Police Officer J. Rios. It will present its findings to the chief of police and the internal affairs department. Officer Rios was placed on desk duty shortly after incident.
Saucedo was charged with “Interfering with Public Duties.” Under the terms of his bond order, Saucedo must pay a monthly $10 personal recognizance fee, respect an 8 pm-to-6 am curfew; consume no drugs or alcohol, submit to weekly drug tests; and report in person once a week.
The judge said, that so far, Saucedo was following all of the court-imposed conditions.
The judge Wednesday gave the prosecution and the defense 30 more days to come up with a resolution for the case, meaning they needed to decide whether to dismiss the charges, give a plea deal or take the case to trial.
