Police Chief: Officer who pointed gun at kids exonerated, back at work

A special disciplinary review board consisting 13 members has exonerated the El Paso Police officer who drew a gun at a group juveniles in South Central El Paso and the police officer is back at work, the chief of police said during a news conference Thursday.

“The board’s decision was unanimous and I concur,” said El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen, adding allegations the officer pointed his weapon at the group of juveniles and choked another juvenile during the incident were “unfounded.”

“(The officer) did point a weapon at a specific individual that he felt, at that point in time, presented a deadly threat,” Allen said in regards to the officer’s actions. “He immediately re-holstered the weapon as soon as he realized the threat wasn’t imminent.”

KVIA ABC-7 app users, CLICK HERE to watch the police news conference or swipe to the left in the media section at the top of this article.

The membership of the review board that interviewed the officers and witnesses consisted of a police commander, two police lieutenants, a sergeant, a detective, a civilian human resources employee with the department and several civilians, Allen said. The board was chaired by an assistant police chief.

The incident, recorded on a mobile device, was posted on social media on July 6, 2018. The complaint affidavit filed against Julian Saucedo, the teenager seen taken into custody in the video on July 5, 2018, states Officer Jose Rios was called to an apartment complex at 6719 Sambrano after a caller reported four juveniles were inside a vacant apartment unit.

When officer Rios detained a group of suspect juveniles near the scene, including Julian Saucedo, a larger group children approached the officer, hurled insults and refused to obey the officer’s orders. Julian Saucedo’s brother, Jacob Saucedo, was also taken into custody during the incident. As the group of belligerent teens began to walk near or behind officer Rios, he momentarily pulled out his service weapon and pointed it at the kids. The officer then immediately holstered his weapon.

Julian Saucedo, 17, was charged with resisting arrest. Jacob Saucedo, 16, was not charged.

Thursday, the police chief said the review board took into consideration the officer’s previous knowledge of the neighborhood. “The officer had prior knowledge of this neighborhood. Previously, there had been shots fired calls there. The officer was on high alert during the call he was responding to,” Allen said.

Allen said the board interviewed 19 witnesses, nine of which directly witnessed the incident involving officer Rios and the juveniles. A witness told the review board he/she overheard one of the juveniles say “let’s jump him” moments before the officer drew his weapon.

“Even though a small snippet of video may portray the officer in a bad light, the totality of circumstances is what we have to go by to make this a fair process,” Allen said.