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Thursday, May 23, 2013 | 9:59 a.m.

Updated: 10:56 p.m. Thursday, March 31, 2011 | Posted: 5:34 p.m. Thursday, March 31, 2011

Socorro Councilman Tells His Side Of Alleged Assault Incident

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By Lauren Rozyla

EL PASO, Texas —

Socorro City Councilman Jesse Gandara Jr. said the El Paso County Sheriff's Department is in "shambles" as he addressed claims made by Sheriff Richard Wiles regarding possible assault charges one of his deputies is facing.

On Tuesday, Gandara Jr. filed an incident report stating that an El Paso County sheriff's deputy tried to yank a camera out of his hands as he took pictures of deputies supervising city employees paving driveways in the area of Muscat Road and Vineyard Road in Socorro, just steps from the councilman's home.

In the report, Gandara Jr. states the sheriff's official "grabbed the victims hand" and "squeezed them causing pain."

"What I want to say to people first and foremost is that it is not OK to rip a camera out of someone's hands," said Gandara Jr.

He is upset that the sheriff publicly defended the deputy.

"It is especially unacceptable for the county sheriff of El Paso to defend the actions of those officers," said Gandara Jr.

And he told KFOX-14 he believes Wiles will regret his comments.

"I know that when the evidence surfaces of what substantiates my claims, Wiles will be highly embarrassed," said Gandara Jr.

But why was Gandara Jr. out taping in the first place? He insists he had no problem with the deputies.

"I didn't think there was a problem," said Gandara Jr. "I just went out there to take some pictures. I didn't realize it was going to escalate to that level."

Gandara Jr. said by taping the deputies, he was instead serving to inform the public.

"If you know about Socorro, any Youtube videos that are out there, I'm the author of all of them," said Gandara Jr. "When I inform the community, I inform them with Youtube videos and I inform them with cameras."

But Wiles said Gandara Jr. wasn't informing.

"While we're doing that, he comes out and he starts videotaping us," said Wiles. "Now, how silly is that? Here's a police vehicle out there. Here's a police vehicle out there, here's a crime tech with a video camera, and he's videotaping us. That's stupid."

Wiles also believes Gandara Jr. was interfering.

"It's very unprofessional and I don't appreciate the way he's treating my personnel," said Wiles.

But Gandara Jr. said at the end of this investigation, he expects one thing.

"At that point, I'm going to demand a public apology," said Gandara Jr. "Not just for myself, but for the members of this community."

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