Posted on 08/05/2007 12:38:45 PM PDT by Daffynition
SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio police have opened an internal affairs investigation into the behavior of a veteran officer accused of using a racial slur and beating a lesbian woman who asked him to put out his cigar at a community pool.
Tamara Vaughan, 18, said her jaw was pushed in and she still cannot open it far after an attack by Detective Keith Alfaro, 35, who was off-duty.
Vaughan was hospitalized. She has bruises on her arm that she says are from Alfaro and estimates he hit her 25 times, including putting his forearm on her throat and choking her.
Alfaro was arrested last week and charged with aggravated assault and evading and resisting arrest.
Ed Shaughnessy, an attorney for Alfaro, said the case is pending before a grand jury and that Alfaro has not been formally indicted.
“Hopefully he won’t be,” Shaughnessy said. He added that his client maintains his innocence but would not elaborate.
The July 22 incident happened at the pool at the housing subdivision where Vaughan lives with her grandmother, aunt and uncle and cousins.
According to a written statement signed by Vaughan, she was at the pool with four cousins when the smoke from Alfaro’s cigar began to bother her. When she asked Alfaro, who was on the phone, to put it out, they got into a verbal fight.
Vaughan’s statement said Alfaro then used the N-word against Vaughan, who is black, and made comments about Vaughan’s appearance, saying “You wanna look like a man, I’m gonna treat you like a man.”
Vaughan said she was wearing swimming trunks and a T-shirt at the pool. Vaughan, who is a lesbian, said Tuesday, July 31, she believes Alfaro was attacking her sexual orientation.
Alfaro then allegedly hit Vaughan, who fell to the ground. She said he continued to hit her and then laid on top of her, placing his arm across her neck to choke her. After he stopped, she said she tried to get up but that he then started hitting her again.
During the altercation, Vaughan said her 15-year-old cousin jumped on Alfaro’s back to pull him off of her. Afterward, Vaughan’s cousin was yelling at Alfaro, who allegedly responded, “I don’t speak ghetto. I don’t understand Ebonics. Speak English.”
The incident is being investigated by Bexar County, since it happened outside city limits.
Alfaro’s has been placed on administrative duty during the police internal affairs investigation, police Sgt. Gabe Trevino said.
Vaughan and her father met with San Antonio Police Chief William McManus Tuesday, but said they won’t be satisfied until Alfaro is off the force. “The officer at the end of the day got paid for beating me,” Vaughan said. “I would love for him to be suspended. Fired. Something. But suspended for right now would be fine.”
so in that case he will be indicted, you think? their was alot of brusies and swollen jaw, I saw them my self, does that mean HE WILL GET INDICTED, HUMMMMMM!
wow, thier are other witness, another older lady was going to tell him the same , but tamara beat her to it, i guess he might beat up on that old lady that was their and was about to tell him the same thing.
tamara has asma’(spelling) her and her nephew. plus their is a sign that says ‘no smoking’!
we asked if they could take a drug test incase if he was on drugs or high
pushed back up into her umm, im not a dentist, cavity, her upper teeth route, humm, what would u call it?
i went to the meeting and he is getting paid but working at a desk, tamara is not working and not getting paid.
You joined today just to post all this?
Bless your heart.
yes it was stupid, i saw and read the article ,i saw her jaw , i saw her brusies
he thought his boy from sa. was going to be comming out, instead it was the other county that came out, so ran into his house and looked the door and talked to the cop thru a window, then he turned his self in the next day.
I have no personal knowledge about this case, but a non-indictment could also mean the prosecutor doesn't want one.
Assuming the story is accurate, the cop should be prosecuted.
That said, can her "partner" sue for loss of consortium
Thank you, that is informative. We had no information other than what was contained in the article.
She was hospitalized. That means her injuries were serious enough that the ER doc admitted her. If you want to retract your assumption that she didn’t have a mark on her, now would be the time.
I’m guessing you’ve never been in a fight before if you think 25 hits equals a coma or death. I’ve been on both ends of some severe beatings and never got worse than a few dozen stitches. I did put a guy in the hospital, but he was released the same day with a mild concussion. Hitting with a closed fist is worse than an open hand, but it’s still hitting a woman either way. The guy is a gutless punk.
Thanks for the information.
That’s right. She was a queer and he was a cop so anything he does is perfectly okay. Hope you remember that if you ever get beat down for asking somebody to not smoke in a non-smoking area.
The young lady probably learned a valuable lesson: life is not like the movies. You get in someones face with lip (as is ubiquitous in film stories) they are not likely to follow the expected script.
It’s too bad she didn’t have a CCW. The ending certainly wouldn’t have been like a movie.
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