Pictures taken by Socorro City Councilman Jesus Gandara Jr have been posted on his blog a day after he said he was assaulted by a detective from the sheriff's office. The pictures range from the detectives sitting in a car to hand blocking the camera. Harsh words are coming from the sheriff on the entire incident.

"I've had certain city council reps come to my office, pointing fingers at other ones. It's like a big circus over there, and it's getting out of hand," said El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles.

Wiles said Gandara's constituents came to his office with a complaint claiming Gandara and other council members, along with some of their friends, got a public project -- an entranceway to their driveways -- paved before other people's homes, and that the paving continued onto private property and up the driveways of those homes.

“We took the complainant with us with some detectives and a photographer, and we were measuring and videotaping some of these entranceways,” said Wiles.

During that process, Wiles said, Gandara came outside with a camera and snapped pictures, including of a witness who Wiles said was crouching down trying to avoid being photographed. See pictures posted on Gandara's blog.

“He fears, he fears retaliation, because he's reporting this misconduct, alleged misconduct, by a city rep,” said Wiles.

The city representative is claiming misconduct from the detective. Gandara said the detective grabbed his hand and squeezed it, causing pain. Socorro’s Police Department is investigating the incident. The detective is now facing a misdemeanor charge.

“I'm very concerned about the fairness of that investigation, given the fact that that police department works clearly for that city and has interests in appeasing certain council members," said Wiles.

Gandara said in his blog that he wants a full investigation questioning if these kinds of assaults happen daily but are unreported. He even posted a questionnaire asking “what the sheriff's office personnel are doing in Socorro.” Some of the answer options have to do with recent headlines. The last option: "walking up and down right-of-ways which apparently takes four officers.”

“It seems awfully suspicious, doesn't it, that one of the persons that has concrete poured in the entrance to his driveway is so worried about us that he's out there recording us, and trying to get pictures of the witness. So what does that say?” said Wiles.

Gandara did not answer calls for a request for an interview. According to his blog, he will be posting more information on the incident Thursday. Stay with KFOX14 as we track his blog and see what he has to say.

As for the detective, Wiles said he has not taken any administrative action, and the detective has never had any problems in the past.

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