Eye Witness To Shooting Of Unarmed Mexican Says He Was Left To Die On The Side Of The Road

There is a new development in the police officer involved shooting in Grapevine. Lawyers for the victim say a new witness has come forward.

Ruben Garcia Villalpondo was shot and killed by a Grapevine police officer on February 20. Police say the officer was responding to a burglary alarm.

The witness said today an injured man was left on the roadside with his hand to his chest on Feb. 20th before police or emergency help came to the scene. Later, Patricia Murphy learned the man was 31-year-old Rubén García Villalpando, an unarmed mechanic who was shot by a Grapevine police officer.

In Euless, Lt. Eric Starnes denied that García Villalpando was left alone. “I will not speak to the investigation, but I will assure the public that Mr. Villalpando was not left alone after he went down,” he said in a prepared statement. “At least one officer stayed with him until advanced life support arrived.”

Starnes said that Murphy had been spoken to by phone and her name is in their report with a “synopsis of her testimony for follow-up.”

The city of Euless is in charge of the investigation because the shooting happened there after a brief pursuit by a Grapevine police officer of García Villalpando.

At a news conference at the offices of the family’s attorney Domingo García, Murphy said she first thought the man had had a heart attack, or was a victim of road rage. Murphy said she didn’t have her cell phone so she couldn’t call 911. After “a good five minutes” emergency help arrived, Murphy said.

She thought about approaching what she described as a lifeless body, but “I am not a nurse.”

Murphy said she tried to speak to Euless police but the detective “tried to confuse me” about what she saw and where.

Murphy said she calculates she was at the scene around 6:33 p.m.

Attorney García said, “What are they trying to hide?”

Grapevine police have not released the police report or the dashcam video from that night, despite Texas Public Information Act requests. They’ve cited ongoing investigation as the reason to prevent the release.

In press interviews, Grapevine police have said that the officer spotted García Villalpando in the driveway near a business where a burglary alarm went off. The burglary alarm had been cleared as false. But the officer turned on his emergency lights and began pursuing García Villalpando in his car. The chase moved along State Highway 121 into the city of Euless before García Villalpando pulled his car over.

García Villalpando got out of his vehicle, the police have said. He was told to stay back and stop. The commands weren’t obeyed, police spokesman Sgt. Robert Eberling has said.

Eberling has said García Villalpando moved beyond the dash-cam view and shots are heard, the police spokesman said. Grapevine police have said that García Villalpando was unarmed.

Clark, is on administrative leave. The 33-year-old had been on the Grapevine police force for nine months and is a former Navy SEALS trainee.

The García Villalpando family are asking for release of the dashcam video and for a Tarrant County indictment of the officer, as we’ve reported here and here. Before they hired an attorney, the family was shown the video but not given a copy. The widow, Martha Angelica Romero, and her brother, Fernando Romero, both said García Villalpando has his hands up. At one point, García Villalpando asked the officer, “Are you going to kill me?” The officer can be heard shouting profanities at the man.

The slaying of García Villalpando, an undocumented Mexican immigrant, so angered the Mexican government that they asked for a federal investigation into the possible disproportionate use of force. The FBI in Dallas has said they are monitoring but not officially investigating the shooting.