Death by Cop 2021-2025
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Rodolfo Gonzales
Age : 46
Gender : Male
Race : Latino/a/e
Date : 09/12/2021
Location : 200 block Pima Street
City : San Antonio
County : Bexar
State : Texas
Agency : San Antonio Police Department
Officer(s) :Not Disclosed
Cause of Death : Gunshot
Event : Killed by police during bicycle traffic stop
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :
On 09/12/2021, two San Antonio Police Department officers shot and killed 46-year-old Rodolfo Gonzales in the 200 block of Pima Street after pursuing him on a bicycle and physically struggling with him during an attempted traffic stop. Initial police reporting described the officers as conducting a routine drug patrol and approaching Gonzales while he was in a vehicle, but SAPD's later critical-incident release materially clarified the circumstances: Gonzales was riding a bicycle, and officers initiated a traffic stop after observing alleged traffic violations.
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The two officers were conducting a directed patrol near Pima Street and Palo Alto Road because police considered a nearby residence a known narcotics location. According to SAPD's later reconstruction, officers saw Gonzales riding a bicycle toward that residence. Police said they observed traffic violations and decided to stop him. The publicly available descriptions reviewed for this update do not specify precisely which bicycle traffic violations officers alleged Gonzales committed.
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Gonzales initially appeared to stop when officers attempted to make contact with him but then continued riding away. The officers pursued him in their patrol vehicle and ordered him to stop over the vehicle's public-address system. SAPD alleged that Gonzales discarded an unidentified object while riding away.
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The officers continued following Gonzales until they used their patrol vehicle to cut off his path in the 200 block of Pima Street. Body-camera and dash-camera recordings of the encounter were subsequently released by SAPD.
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After Gonzales was stopped, the officers attempted to physically take him into custody. Police alleged that during the struggle Gonzales reached toward his waistband and grabbed a handgun. SAPD said the officers attempted to wrestle the firearm away from him and that Gonzales would not release it.
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Both officers then fired at Gonzales. He was struck multiple times and died at the scene. SAPD's released video shows a handgun beside Gonzales' right arm after the shooting.
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The body-camera evidence is particularly important in this case because it provides considerably more information than the initial September 12 police account. One officer's camera was substantially obstructed during the physical struggle, while the second officer's camera provided a clearer, although still imperfect, view of the confrontation.
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SAPD did not release the critical-incident video until 11/11/2021, approximately two months after Gonzales was killed. The department released both an officer-narrated presentation and unnarrated footage. At that time, SAPD said the investigation remained under review by the Bexar County District Attorney's Office.
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An important correction to the original reporting is therefore necessary. This was not simply an encounter in which officers approached Gonzales during a generalized drug investigation and he attempted to avoid arrest. SAPD's own later account establishes that officers were conducting directed narcotics patrol but initiated their enforcement action against Gonzales as a bicycle traffic stop for alleged traffic violations. Gonzales then continued riding away, officers pursued him, blocked his path, and the fatal confrontation occurred during the resulting physical attempt to take him into custody.
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SAPD's public officer-shooting archive continues to list this incident separately as the 09/12/2021 shooting at 206 Pima Street, confirming the precise address associated with the fatal encounter.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
The two San Antonio Police Department officers who shot Rodolfo Gonzales have not been publicly identified in the records located for this update.
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The most directly relevant agency issue in this case concerns the nature of the stop itself. The officers were assigned to directed patrol around what SAPD characterized as a known narcotics house, but the legal intervention against Gonzales was described by the department as a bicycle traffic stop based upon alleged traffic violations. The exact alleged violations therefore matter in reconstructing why officers initially exercised police authority over Gonzales.
SOURCE LINKS :
https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2021/09/12/man-shot-killed-by-officers-after-reaching-for-gun-while-avoiding-arrest-police-say/
https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2021/11/12/sapd-releases-bodycam-video-from-officer-involved-shooting-on-southwest-side/
