San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Charges dropped, cops fired but beaten San Antonian is in prison
Man, who admits criminal background, nowis ‘caught in the system’
Eric Wilson still can’t see clearly out of his left eye, nearly 10 months after four San Antonio police officers barged into his home, tackled him and repeatedly punched him.
Eric spends his days in a federal prison in Three Rivers, about 80 miles south of San Antonio, thinking about his arrest Jan. 16.
It started when officers said Eric didn’t use his turn signal 100 feet before an intersection. Hours later, he was in the hospital undergoing emergency surgery.
“I think about it every day,” Eric said during a phone call from the medium-security prison. “I think about why it went that way. I think about if I had done something different, if it would have changed things.”
Two of the officers who arrested Eric later were fired, and a judge dismissed the two criminal charges against him.
That turn of events came too late for Eric.
Because of the officers’ accusations, the U.S. Parole Commission sent the 49-year-old father back to prison for 21 months after it said he violated the terms of his parole for an earlier, unrelated federal conviction on drug and gun charges.
The commission can act based on a preponderance of evidence — a lower burden of proof than is required to convict a defendant during a criminal
trial.
At the time of his arrest in January, Eric was four months shy of a commission review to determinewhether he could be released from parole.
Now, with the officers fired and the state charges dropped, federal officials have not indicated whether they would reevaluate Eric’s case. He has another year to serve.
“He’s caught in the system,” said his cousin, Walter Perry, a community activist. “He’s in
limbo.”
Eric’s troubles began about 9 p.m. Jan. 16, after officers followed Eric to his father’shomeon the near East Side for the alleged blinker violation.
According to officers, Eric didn’t obey a command to stop while getting out of his vehicle and walking inside.
By that point, two other officers had arrived. The four officers kicked in the front door and tackled Eric. While he was on the living room floor, the officers punched him in the head, face, back and torso after they said Eric continued to resist arrest.
Later that evening, after searching Eric’s car, the officers said they found about a quarterounce of ectasy and an ounce of marijuana.
They arrested him on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance and evading arrest-second offense, both felonies.
Eric has denied the allegations. About a week after his arrest, he filed a complaint against the officers with the Police Department’s Internal Affairs Unit.
That led to two of the officers, Carlos M. Castro and Thomas H. Villarreal, being fired in July. Both had been with the department nearly four years.
Police Chief William McManus said he fired the officers because they did not have a search warrant, verbal consent or a compelling reason to enter Eric’s house.
He also said the officers used excessive force in continuing to punch Eric after he had been handcuffed.
About that same time, McManus fired two other officers accused of excessive force in a separate, unrelated arrest. While McManus is known among rankand-file officers as a strict disciplinarian, he rarely suspends or fires officers for excessive use of force.
The department has provided fewadditional details about Eric’s case. It also has not yet released records in response to four Texas Public Information Act requests filed by the San Antonio ExpressNews.
The two officers have denied the accusations. They are trying to get their jobs back through arbitration.
Their attorneys didn’t respond to a phone call seeking comment for this report.
In August, the FBI’s San Antonio Division announced it was reviewing the officers’ actions for possible civil rights infractions.
If the investigators determine that the two officers “willfully” violated Wilson’s rights while acting under their official governmental authority, they could face criminal charges in federal court, though such charges are rare.
The Police Department is conducting a separate criminal investigation, the results of which will be filed with the Bexar County district attorney’s office for possible prosecution on state charges.
“It should be abundantly clear that excessive use of force and abuse of authority is not acceptable,” McManus said in a statement. “In addition to being terminated, these former officers now face criminal charges.”
District Attorney Joe Gonzales said the decision to ask for dismissal of the charges against Wilson “was not based on the sufficiency of the evidence but because the defendant is currently serving a federal sentence.”
Eric’s family wants officials to release Eric from prison and agree to expunge the January arrests from his record.
The U.S. Parole Commission didn’t respond to emails inquiring about Eric’s case.
Eric’s family also maintains the officers shouldn’t get their jobs back.
“We definitely don’t want those officers reinstated,” Perry said. “This culture has to change. We have to start a new culture with officers who are going to take the responsibility seriously.”
Breaking the law
Eric Wilson killed a man when he was 17.
He had joined a gang, and in September 1988 fatally shot the man, whomEric described as a rival.
Eric was convicted of murder, sentenced to 15 years in prison and released about nine years later in 1999.
Over the next 10 years, Ericwas in and out of jail and prison, primarily for minor offenses. In 2009, he was indicted by a federal
grand jury on drug trafficking and firearm charges after police found over 5 grams of cocaine on him, in addition to a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol.
A judge sentenced Eric to 10 years in federal prison, followed by four years of community supervision. Eric servedmost of his sentence andwas released inMay 2018 at age 47.
He worked for two years at Goodwill, then was hired for jobs in construction and window installation.
“He started really getting his mind focused on staying out, on leaving the streets,” Perry said. “He was talking about buying a house. Hewas talking about starting his own business. Hewas talking about getting off parole and voting. He was like, ‘Man I didn’t get to vote for Barack Obama, but this time I’m going to get to vote.’”
Eric also built a relationship with his teenage daughter.
“Shewas with him everyweekend,” Perry recalled. “He would bring her by my house every two weeks to get her hair braided by my wife.”
EddieWilson Sr., 77, said itwas helpful having his son around the house. He took out the trash and cooked for the whole family. He loved to go fishing and host barbecues on the front lawn.
In September 2019, roughly a year after he was released, Eric’s girlfriend called police and reported that Eric had choked her
and punched her in the face after an argument at her home.
Eric was arrested on two misdemeanor family violence charges, assault bodily injury and interference with emergency communications, and released on bail as he awaited trial.
Traffic stop contested
His troubles continued a few months later.
Eric was driving home Jan. 16 on East Houston Street, less than a mile from his father’s home, when he pulled up to the light at NorthWalters. According to Eric, two men pulled up in an unmarked vehicle beside him and looked over.
Immediately, Eric recognized both men as police officers and grew suspicious.
The light turned green, and Eric proceeded to turn left onto North Walters. He noticed in his rear-view mirror the vehicle make aU-turn and begin to follow him.
Eric drove a short way, before switching on his blinker and turning onto Lamar Street.
Officer Castro and his partner Joshua Kies, bothmembers a special team assigned to go after violent criminals, continued to follow Eric.
In a police report, they said they turned on their emergency lights shortly after turning onto Lamar — a detail Eric and his father dispute.
Eric pulled into the driveway. He got out of the car and headed toward the door.
Eddie Wilson Sr., who was inside dozing off, woke up when he heard his son outside. He watched through a security camera monitor in his room as Eric approached the door.
It was then, Eric and Eddie said, that the unmarked car pulled up in front of Eddie’s home and turned on its emergency lights.
Kies and Castro, who said they were in full uniform, quickly got out of their vehicle andwalked toward Eric. Eric had spoken to Kies a fewmonths before during a traffic stop.
“‘Hey, come here real quick,’” Eric recalled one of the officers saying. “‘I want to speak to you.’”
“I ain’t got nothing to speak to you about,” Eric said he told them.
In his report, Kies wrote that he and Castro could smell the strong odor of marijuana coming from Eric’s car. They said they drewtheir guns and again told Eric to stop.
Eddie Wilson Jr., Eric’s older brother, alsowas inside the home and saw the officers arrive. He walked outside when he saw the officers draw their weapons.
According to Eddie Sr. and Eric, Eddie Jr. stepped in between one of the officers and his brother, fearing the cops were going to shoot Eric.
About that time, two more officers, Villarreal and David H. Kendrick, arrived. They quickly handcuffed Eric’s older brother, saying he was hindering the investigation.
Eric briskly walked inside and attempted to close the front door. It’s a move he second guesses in hindsight, though he doesn’t think it would have changed the outcome of events.
“You knowwhen you get a feeling that someone is trying to do something bad? That’s howI felt,” he said. “When they passed my car and looked at me, I knew something was wrong. That’s why I went home.”
“Iwas scared,” Eric said. “Iwas real scared.”
Arrest turns violent
Soon after Eric went inside, Castro and Villarreal began to kick at the door in an attempt to gain entry. They also tried to break in through the back door.
In his report, Kies wrote that the officers attempted to break into the house because it was a “fresh pursuit” and Eric was accused of evading arrest, a class A misdemeanor.
SAPD’s general manual states officers may break into a person’s home without the person’s consent or without a warrant only if public safety is endangered, or if officers believe a person possesses an “immediately dangerous weapon.”
As Castro and Villarreal attempted to push in the door, Eric pushed back from inside. Several times, the police report states, the officers yelled at him to come outside with his hands up.
After several minutes, Villarreal took out his Taser and reached inside the door in an attempt to shock Eric. The prongs from the Taser briefly pierced Eric’s hand, but he tore them out.
Eric stopped pushing against the door. The officers rushed inside and tackled him.
Both Eddie and Eric said he complied with all the officers’ commands. But in the officers’ report, Kies wrote that Eric continued to resist arrest by placing his hands underneath his body.
Fearing that Eric might be going for a weapon, Castro and Villarreal began to punch Eric in the head and shoulders. Kies and Kendrick punched him in the back and torso, the report states.
The four officers subdued Eric and left him face down and handcuffed on the living room floor.
Officers said they then dragged him outside and sat him on the curb.
But Eddie and Eric said Castro and Villarreal continued beating Eric for much longer — eight to 10 minutes.
At one point, Eddie Sr. said, one of the officers jumped into the air and stomped on Eric. The force shook the living room floor, making the furniture rattle.
At another point, Eddie Sr. said, the officers began referring to Eric by racial slurs — a detail Eric, who’s Black, doesn’t recall.
Eddie Sr., who was standing in the dining room holding onto his walker, began yelling at the officers.
“Why are you doing this?” he recalled saying. “What did he do? What did he do to deserve this?”
According to Eddie Sr., one of the officers pulled his handgun from its holster and pointed it at him, telling him to stay back.
Eric began to call out to his father.
“Daddy! Daddy! Call somebody!” Eddie recalled his son saying. “Call somebody!”
Eddie still gets emotional thinking about his son’s pleas for help.
“Who was I supposed to call?” Eddie asked. “The police, they are already here. They didn’t want to hear nothing he had to say. They didn’twant to hear anything I had to say either.”
Officers search car
Patricia Hill and her daughter, Delores Holloman, were inside their home less than a block away when they sawtwo cars speed by.
Immediately, the pair went outside to see what was going on.
They walked down the street and watched as the officers kicked in the door and rushed inside. Neitherwomancould see inside, but they could hear.
Several minutes later, the officers dragged Eric outside in handcuffs. His face was covered in blood. It looked like his left eye was missing, Hill and her daughter recalled.
Hill said the sight reminded her of the videotaped beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers in 1991.
The officers placed Eric on the curb. Soon thereafter, he passed out. Hill and her daughter called 911 for an ambulance.
Several minutes later, they watched as officers scoured the yard for Eric’s car keys, at one point going back inside to look. According to the police report, the officers found the keys outside Eddie’shome“in plain view.”
But Eddie Sr. said the officers found the keys under the couch, inside his home.
The officers opened the car doors and began searching. Hill and Holloman used a cellphone to try to record the officers as they searched. At one point, the women said, an officer pointed
his flashlight at the camera, making it difficult to record.
After a few minutes, one of the officers emerged from the car with two plastic baggies. One had a green leafy substance that appeared to be marijuana. Another had several multicolored pills inside.
The officers tested the pills on site. They said the pills tested positive for MDMA, a psychoactive stimulant known as ecstasy or molly.
The ambulance arrived and took him to the trauma center at Brooke Army Medical Center.
Several hours later, the police left. Hill and Holloman approached the home to check on Eddie Sr.
Inside, the two chairs had been broken. Part of the door frame was split in two, and there were dents on the white door.
The floor was covered in blood. The dining room tablewas splattered with it, too.
Eddie Sr. frantically called his sister and daughter, trying to figure out whether Eric was alright.
Lasting trauma
When Eric arrived at the hospital, the bones surrounding his eye socket were broken. He couldn’t open his left eye, his medical records state. His nose was broken, too.
Inside his eye socket, pressure was rapidly increasing, a condition that can lead to vision loss if not quickly corrected. Doctors performed emergency surgery to reduce the swelling.
Afterward, Eric couldn’t clearly, just light and dark.
Eric’s aunt, Fae Carter, visited Eric at the hospital soon after his surgery. When she walked into
see
his room, she burst into tears. His face was black and blue. There was a knot in the back of his head. He barely could open his left eye.
“If I didn’t know already that
was Eric, I wouldn’t have recognized him,” she said.
Eventually, Eric regained use of his eye, though sometimes his vision is blurry. He has to squint to read and has peripheral vision loss.
These days, Eric worries about his father’s health. Eddie Sr. contracted COVID-19 and still feels some lingering symptoms. Eric regularly calls his family— though prisoners now have less frequent access to phones during the pandemic.
He wishes he could spend time with his two daughters. But, he maintains, “things happen for reasons we don’t know.”
His family worries about him, too.
“This has clearly affected him,” said Perry, his cousin. “You can see the difference in his eyes.” Eddie Sr. now is on his own. “Eric and I, we’re really close,” he said. “It’s like having your arm missing.”
Since January, he’s had a hard time sleeping. Occasionally, he still has nightmares about police officers punching his son. Loud noises also trigger him.
Earlier this year, Eddie took a hammer and nail and tried to fasten the broken door frame back together. But the task was too difficult, especially while sitting in his walker.
Maybe, he said, he’ll be able to fix it soon.
If not, he’ll have to wait for his son.