By Catherine Hamilton
RIVERSIDE, CA – Here in Riverside County Superior County Court last week, two deputy sheriffs testified before the judge in a preliminary hearing against Jose Rodriguez, a man accused of attempted assault with a deadly weapon—allegedly trying to run over his own brother with a vehicle.
The deputies—Deputy Alan Avila and Deputy District Attorney Katie Gonzales—were dispatched Nov. 11, 2020, to the scene of the incident, where the brother of Rodriguez claimed that suspect Rodriguez had tried to run him over in a brown SUV on their street.
Private Defense Attorney Eugene Carson, before the testimony, requested that they use the phrase “complaining witness” instead of “victim” when discussing the man’s brother.
Judge Mac Fisher granted the request, though he said, “I’m a big boy… I’m not 12 people in a jury,” insinuating that certain phrasing would not sway his ruling.
Deputy Avila testified that the complaining witness said Rodriguez, his brother, had tried to run him over while the complaining witness was on a bike in the street.
He said he jumped off the bicycle in time, hitting his head on the curb. After Rodriguez ran over the bike, he got out to have a verbal altercation with the complaining witness.
The brother estimated that the car was going approximately 45 miles per hour, according to Deputy Avila.
The driver of the vehicle, allegedly suspect Rodriguez, then picked up the bicycle during the verbal altercation and placed it in the trunk of the car. He tried to drive away, but the car was inoperable.
Deputy Avila said that once arriving at the scene of the incident, he saw damage to the sidewalk, a 239-foot trail of oil measured with a tape measure, and the brown SUV.
When suspect Rodriguez returned to their house, he signed a consent-to-search form for Deputy Avila to search his car, the brown SUV, where a bicycle with damage to the rim and frame was found in the trunk.
Private attorney Carson asked Deputy Avila whether the complaining witness had given the police a motive for why his brother would try to run him over. Apparently, the complaining witness had said that he did not know why Rodriguez would run him over.
According to the complaining witness’ old police records, he had previous drug-related misdemeanors. Deputy Avila confirmed that, the night of the incident, the complaining witness appeared to be under the influence of a stimulant because he spoke rapidly and didn’t seem to have all of his cognitive factors present.
Additionally, even though Deputy Avila arrived shortly after the incident allegedly took place, the complaining witness could not remember what he and the driver had argued about.
A few days later, a notarized statement arrived in Deputy Avila’s mailbox from the complaining witness saying, “that’s what he deserves for giving me shit and kicking me out of the house… I was high as well.”
However, the complaining witness had not mentioned the night of the incident that his brother had kicked him out of the house.
The statement also said, “I’m sorry for making those fake statements to the officers at the time” because the complaining witness knew that if his brother didn’t get arrested, “things would get a lot worse.”
Next, DDA Gonzales called to the stand Deputy Alexandro Acosta, another deputy that responded to the scene of the reported crime.
Deputy Acosta confirmed that the driver of the brown SUV had attempted to drive away, but instead ran westbound to the nearest street because the car could not be driven.
Private Attorney Carson asked if the complaining witness had said that he was sitting on his bike with his foot on the curb when he heard the vehicle accelerating behind him. Deputy Acosta said he had not, and instead had said that he was fixing the bike.
Defense Counsel Carson said the complaining witness had told the two deputies two different things. However, Judge Fisher said that there was enough reasonable evidence that suspect Rodriguez had been the driver to introduce certain evidence into court.
The next court date is set for Feb. 23.
