SAN ANTONIO – Three San Antonio police officers were each handed suspensions totaling 30 days this year after fumbling two drunk driving crash investigations in the same night, discipline paperwork released to KSAT Investigates shows.
The crashes occurred about 40 minutes apart and seven blocks from one another along the same stretch of highway on July 22, records show. One of them was deadly.
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Officers Destiny Lechuga, Viviana Rodriguez and Jeremy Morgan were each handed contemplated indefinite suspensions late last year.
The suspensions were later reduced to a 20-day and a 10-day suspension for each officer in early January, after they met with SAPD Chief William McManus, records show.
Officer Lechuga forfeited 112 hours of leave time to cover a majority of her suspension time, SAPD records confirm.
Officer Rodriguez forfeited 160 hours of leave time in lieu of serving her 20-day suspension, records show.
Officer Morgan used vacation time to cover a portion of his suspension, according to records.
In the first incident — a wrong-way crash in the 22900 block of U.S. Highway 281 North — officers failed to arrest the driver for DWI after she refused to take part in a field sobriety test.
Officer Morgan was listed as the first arriving officer, and was therefore responsible for managing the scene, according to SAPD records.
No charges were filed in the case, SAPD officials confirmed Thursday.
In the second incident, a fatal crash in the 22200 block of U.S. Highway 281 North, officers on the scene again neglected to administer a field sobriety test to a driver who was showing possible signs of intoxication.
“Officer Morgan did not follow the provided instructions, and Office Morgan’s inability to follow the provided instructions led to a delay which impacted the investigation,” his discipline paperwork states.
SAPD officials confirmed Thursday the case was eventually filed as a manslaughter charge against the suspected drunk driver.
Morgan is a three-year veteran of SAPD.
Lechuga and Rodriguez have both been with SAPD since 2021, city HR records show.