An investigation into the death of Xavier Guadalupe Hernandez during an arrest on the side of a freeway is now in the hands of the El Paso District Attorney’s Office. It will likely go to a grand jury to determine if criminal charges will be filed against the police officers.
Hernandez, 30, died in a controversial case recorded on an El Paso Police Department body camera video that raised criticism over how police handled what started as a call about a pedestrian on Interstate 10 and ended with Hernandez’s death on July 13.
El Paso District Attorney James Montoya, in an emailed statement on Wednesday, Aug. 20, said his office has now received the investigation conducted by El Paso police.
“While the case is pending, we cannot offer any other comment about it specifically,” Montoya stated. “However, it is the policy of the DA’s Office to present all in-custody deaths and officer-involved shootings to a grand jury of El Pasoans for their review and determination of potential criminal liability.”
EPPD body camera video released this week showed Hernandez in an agitated state on the shoulder of the busy freeway in a situation that quickly escalated into a struggle as an officer repeatedly shocked him with a Taser.
“Officer, what’s your badge number?” Hernandez repeatedly yells in the video, which shows Hernandez stop breathing while handcuffed behind his back and held facedown on the asphalt by officers.
An autopsy by the county medical examiner’s office deemed Hernandez’s death a homicide caused by “asphyxia due to chest compression during law enforcement subdual and restrain” with cocaine toxicity as a “significant” factor.
DA: Grand jury to look at police deadly force cases
Montoya, a Democrat, took office in January after defeating former Republican DA Bill Hicks in the November 2024 election.
Montoya previously had an unsuccessful run for DA, losing to Yvonne Rosales in the 2020 Democratic primary. Rosales later ended up resigning from office amid accusations of incompetence and Hicks was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to fill in the remainder of her term.
During the 2020 campaign, police brutality was a hot topic amid the George Floyd protests, Black Lives Matter movement and the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, Montoya said in an El Paso Times interview that incidents in which police use deadly force should be automatically investigated.
“Whether that is a discharge of a firearm, some kind of chokehold, any type of deadly force, including a Taser, which I believe is deadly force, will be presented to an El Paso grand jury for their review for potential criminal charges,” Montoya said in 2020.
Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com and @BorundaDaniel on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Xavier Hernandez death: El Paso DA gets investigation, likely to go to grand jury
Reporting by Daniel Borunda, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
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