Leaked recordings offer new insight into El Paso superintendents’ Whataburger confrontation

Recordings leaked to the media are providing new details about a reported fight between two El Paso-area school superintendents. Those recordings are of conversations between the alleged aggressor and a witness to the incident that happened at a San Antonio Whataburger restaurant last month.

That’s where Ysleta ISD Superintendent Xavier De La Torre is accused of head-butting Socorro ISD Superintendent Jose Espinoza, who police said responded by punching De La Torre in self defense.

The recordings obtained by ABC-7 on Wednesday contain discussions between De La Torre and Socorro school trustee David Morales about what happened that night. Both men confirmed it is their voices that can be heard on those leaked recordings.

The first tape has the pair speaking on the phone last Thursday, with Morales telling De La Torre he did something stupid and should own up to it. He then tells De La Torre they should meet to clear things up.

“I think something I will share will shine light on the situation, or maybe we can come and put it in perspective,” Morales can be heard saying.

Morales told ABC-7 in a phone interview about the tapes on Wednesday that he wanted De La Torre, who shares a mutual friend, to know what he had seen.

Then, Morales said in the interview that De La Torre apparently did not remember the incident at all — a contention backed up by the second leaked recording, which was made when the two men had brunch on Sunday.

A police report on the alleged fight indicates that officers believed De La Torre was intoxicated at the time. And although Morales admits to also being in the restaurant when the incident took place, he maintains he really didn’t witness much.

“It happened so quick. There are witnesses, they did talk to the police officers after. They probably had a better vantage point, they saw what they saw,” he told ABC-7. “Like I told them, I didn’t see it, but then again from where I was at it happened so quick that what could you see?”

In that Sunday conversation, Morales told De La Torre he saw him on the floor after the incident with his hands in his pockets, but didn’t see anything before that.

“He said that he didn’t remember a lot of things, he didn’t remember the whole situation,” Morales told ABC-7. “We were looking to suppress it. We thought that it was a misunderstanding, something that happened very quickly and it got blown out of proportion.”

In addition to Morales, three other Socorro school district trustees — Paul Guerra, Paul Garcia and Eduardo Mena — had also accompanied their superintendent, Espinoza, to the burger joint on the late night hours of June 13th.

While Ysleta district board members were also in San Antonio at that time to attend the same leadership conference as their counterparts, none of them were with De La Torre at the restaurant.

Ysleta board president Cruz Ochoa has called a special meeting for next Tuesday to address the matter and “take some action” regarding the superintendent scuffle.

De La Torre issued a statement Tuesday acknowledging the incident and apologizing for his conduct — but denied being the aggressor as it was portrayed in the police incident report.

Espinoza also spoke about the incident Tuesday at the Socorro school board meeting, saying he was the victim of an assault.

The San Antonio Police Department on Wednesday declined to comment beyond the redacted police report on the incident that was previously released.

The president of the Ysleta Teachers Association weighed in on the controversy Wednesday evening, telling ABC-7 that she wants repercussions for both superintendents.

“I believe that in an incident like this they both acted inappropriately and I think they both should suffer consequences,” said Arlinda Valencia.

“I’m very glad that (De La Torre) came out with an apology. But there’s still conflicting information coming from both sides,” the teachers union head added. “Right now I think that we need to withhold judgment because of the fact that we don’t know everything yet.”