San Antonio cops suspended for hiding DUI officer, porn, sex toy

San Antonio - Three San Antonio, Texas police officers have been suspended for covering up a February incident in which a fellow SAPD officer was found wandering drunk in a parking lot after crashing a city-issued truck.

WOAI reports that the suspended officers also found alcohol, pornography and a "sexual device" in the truck crashed by Sgt. Joe Myers in the early morning hours of February 2. According to the Houston Press, SAPD dispatchers began receiving transmissions from Sgt. Myers, a narcotics officer, who claimed he was being followed, around 5:30 a.m. on February 2. A citywide search ensued, and around half an hour later a caller reported an underwear-clad man leaving the scene of a wrecked truck on Highway 281. The man appeared to be creating a danger to himself and the public. Some 45 minutes later, private security guards called police to report a "disoriented and intoxicated man" stumbling around a parking garage. The suspect was "creating a disturbance and attempting to gain entry into various parked vehicles, claiming they were his." SAPD sergeants Andrea Klauer and Ramiro Garcia arrived on the scene and took Myers into custody. The drunk officer could not explain what he was doing in the parking lot or identify the location of the truck, which was found crashed into a guardrail but still running. Internal SAPD disciplinary documents reveal that "a number of suspicious items were found in the truck, including alcohol and empty alcohol containers, pornography and a sexual device." But "rather than secure the contents of the truck as evidence, the suspicious items were removed from the truck," the documents state. Instead, officers notified Lt. Steven Velasquez, Myers' superior officer on the narcotics squad. Velasquez then allegedly ordered that Myers be taken home instead of to jail, despite the fact that the sergeant was "incoherent and... no plausible explanation was given as to why he was there in his underwear or how he even got there." Sgt. Klauer allegedly drove Myers to a coffee shop so he could attempt to sober up. Sgt. Garcia is alleged to have removed the incriminating items from the crashed truck. They were suspended for five and 15 days, respectively. Lt. Velasquez was suspended for 45 days. Sgt. Myers was placed on administrative immediately after the incident and retired shortly thereafter with 20 years' service under his belt. He is eligible for a partial pension.