Councilman Greg Brockhouse (D6), who is running for mayor of San Antonio, has stopped short of calling a 2009 police report fake, but many of his supporters have suggested that the report was fabricated.
The report, which no longer exists in City records, contains handwritten notes by an officer named Daniel Gomez, whose badge number also appears on the report, regarding accusations of domestic violence made by Brockhouse’s wife Annalisa. Brockhouse was never charged in the incident. A side-by-side comparison of that with other reports Gomez wrote that week indicate they were written by the same person.
Greg Brockhouse has said the allegations are false. “My wife and I have both denied them. … The situation did not happen.” On Tuesday, he reiterated that point and added. “I’m sticking to the facts and that matters most.”
Messages left for Gomez, who still patrols out of SAPD’s West Substation, by the Rivard Report were not returned.
While the handwriting is similar, questions surrounding the 2009 report and why the City has no record of it remain. Many speculate it was expunged, though Brockhouse also has denied any knowledge of that.
Gomez also filed a report about the 2009 incident with the Department of of Public Safety, according to records obtained by the San Antonio Express-News. It was logged as both a “simple assault” and “intimidation.”
“My statement still stands, but more importantly my wife’s statement is clear,” Brockhouse told the Rivard Report when asked about the DPS records.
Brockhouse is in the midst of a contentious runoff election against first-term Mayor Ron Nirenberg. He has implied that Nirenberg’s campaign had something to do with the 2009 report’s appearance. A spokesperson for Nirenberg said they were not involved.
A San Antonio Police Department spokesman reiterated that the department has no record of the report.”We cannot comment on a document that is not in our possession,” he said and declined to comment further.
According to the report, Gomez, then a rookie officer, responded to a 911 call on Dec. 23, 2009, at the Brockhouse residence in the far-Northwest Side.
When Gomez arrived, Brockhouse wasn’t there, the report reads, but the officer took Annalisa Brockhouse’s statement. She is identified in the narrative as “(C)” for complainant.
Brockhouse points to inaccuracies in Gomez’s report relating to how he is described. Gomez wrote that Brockhouse is 6-foot-2 and has blue eyes. Brockhouse has brown eyes and is between 5-foot-11 and 6-feet tall.
Since Brockhouse was not present at the scene when the officer arrived, any description would have come from Annalisa Brockhouse. A source told the Rivard Report that the officer might have misinterpreted her description.
There are other errors in the report, too. Gomez misspells Annalisa’s name and incorrectly cites the penal code for assault, though “assault-contact” is written next to the code number for robbery.
On Dec. 23, 2009, Gomez was called to a robbery at an address on Potranco Road at 11 p.m., according to a report the Rivard Report obtained through an open records request. The penal code for that is P.C.29.02, and Gomez indicated it as such on that report. An hour later, Gomez was called to Brockhouse’s home, according to the missing report.
The number for assault-contact is P.C.22.01., but he wrote P.C.29.01 on that report – a similar penal code to the one he used an hour earlier. Gomez also wrote “assault-contact” in the description next to the code and ticked the box to indicate “domestic violence.”
It’s possible, sources inside and close to SAPD said, that Gomez wrote down the wrong penal code. It’s not unusual for an officer, especially during their first year on the job, to get the penal code wrong on a report, the sources said. Others said the number of errors and discrepancies, however, were concerning.
Officer Gomez started the academy in May 2008, according to SAPD records. The academy is about 32 weeks long, and newly-graduated officers spend 16 weeks riding along with other officers. He likely started to take calls on his own around April or May of 2009. He has never been suspended, according to SAPD, and has met and exceeded expectations, according to his performance evaluations.
The narrative in the report states that Annalisa Brockhouse said her husband lost his job, but City records indicate he was still employed by the City.
Some observers also have pointed to Gomez’s use of a January 2010 form as evidence the file was doctored or altered in some way. However, a source inside the SAPD said the form could have been taken from a stack printed in anticipation of the new year, or as a result of having to re-fill out the report at a later date.
It’s unclear if or how the allegations will impact the Saturday election. Early voting concluded Tuesday with increased voter turnout.
For her part, Annalisa has not spoken publicly about the incident, but issued a strong statement in defense of her husband and accusing Nirenberg and his campaign for victimizing her.
“I would never, ever stay in an abusive relationship and I certainly wouldn’t keep my kids in an abusive environment,” she wrote. “Family violence happens every day in San Antonio, but never in my house. … I have never been a victim before, but Ron Nirenberg has made me feel like one with his constant attacks on my character, my family and my husband.”
Asked to respond to her comment at a recent candidate forum, Nirenberg said, “Let’s be clear: Councilman Brockhouse is not the victim. Furthermore, I am not the abuser.”
M?tú, a group formed to oppose Brockhouse because of these allegations, sent a letter to SAPD’s internal affairs division on Wednesday requesting an investigation into the “disappearance” of the 2009 report.
“At issue is not just that a mayoral candidate is alleged to have committed domestic violence but the public confidence in San Antonio’s Police Department,” M?tú’s letter reads. “Did someone within the department purposefully and illegally delete all records of it?”
City Attorney Andy Segovia could not immediately be reached for comment on launching such an investigation.
