Affidavit reveals new info into officer's NYE hit-and-run case

Diana Lopez arrested, charged with hitting husband, officer Ernesto Vasquez

SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio police officer injured in a hit-and-run is still in a coma. On Tuesday, his wife was arrested and charged with failure to stop and render aid.

KSAT has obtained an arrest warrant affidavit revealing new details about the case.

Diana Lopez, 26, was arrested in Laredo and charged with hitting her husband with their SUV and then leaving before police came. The hit-and-run happened on New Year's Eve near their apartment on Blanco. Her husband of four years is eight-year police veteran Ernesto Vasquez.

"Right now, she is being questioned in Laredo by detectives," San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said Tuesday.

The affidavit said several witnesses saw an SUV with no headlights on hit Vasquez. They told police he flew up in the air before landing on the pavement. The document said he fractured his skull when he hit the pavement. He has been in a coma since the hit-and-run.

Witnesses said a woman approached Vasquez after he was hit, crying, saying he was her husband "Ernie."  They told police it was strange that she immediately knew it was her husband before she got close to him. They said she never called 911, but returned to her SUV and left before police got there. One witness said they saw three children in Lopez's SUV when she drove away.

"We work on the facts as we build them. Once we reach the threshold of probable cause, we'll go get a warrant and make the arrest," McManus said when asked why Lopez wasn't arrested earlier.

On Jan. 6, police began to find probable cause. They found Lopez in Laredo, searched her car and interviewed her. They said the red Chevy Traverse in her possession had minor front-end damage. The damage did not seem to be caused by a car, because there was no paint or severe dents left behind.

WATCH: Full interview with McManus

"It was definitely his car. Whether she owned it in-part or not, I'm not sure," McManus said.

During the interview, Lopez told detectives she had been married to Vasquez for four years, but they had been on and off. She said the night of the accident she decided to leave him, packed her car and left to clear her mind. She said she returned to apologize, and that's when she saw her husband already lying in the middle of the street.

Detectives said Lopez's story was inconsistent with surveillance video they found from the Walmart across the street, but she continued to say she did not hit him with her car. She also told detectives she never visited her husband in the hospital because he was not good to her, and also because his family doesn't like her and probably would not want her there.

Lopez will soon be brought from Laredo to the Bexar County Jail, where her bond will be set.


About the Author:

Courtney Friedman anchors KSAT’s weekend evening shows and reports during the week. Her ongoing Loving in Fear series confronts Bexar County’s domestic violence epidemic. She joined KSAT in 2014 and is proud to call the SA and South Texas community home. She came to San Antonio from KYTX CBS 19 in Tyler, where she also anchored & reported.