CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — According to arrest records, May 29th of 2023 around 1:30 in the morning a Corpus Christi police officer noticed a car driving erratically on Yorktown Boulevard. He pulled the driver over and asked for a driver's license. The driver was Arturo Gallegos, a 30-year peace officer and was at the time an investigator for the District Attorney's Office. Gallegos handed the officer his district attorney ID while saying "I was hoping for some kind of professional courtesy."
This is something that would be repeated throughout the 40-minute interaction with officers.
The Police Report notes that, after showing multiple signs of intoxication and refusing a breathalyzer test, Gallegos was arrested and a warrant to obtain a blood sample was issued.
His blood alcohol was found to be above than or equal to .15 — nearly twice the legal limit.
Captain Samantha Baldwin with the Corpus Christi Police Department would not speak on this specific case but spoke of the punishments and procedures of similar DWI cases. "You have a DWI above .15, which is what you are referring to, it enhances that to a Class A Misdemeanor."
According to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, a DWI Class A Misdemeanor would at the very least suspend Gallegos of his Peace Officer License.
On October 3rd, just 3 days before District Attorney Mark Gonzalez stepped down from office to run for a Senate seat, Gallegos's charges were dismissed. That dismissal was stamped with Gonzalez's signature.
Among the reasons listed on the dismissal form was a statement that Gallegos had no positive test for alcohol, despite the original complaint alleging a positive blood alcohol test of .15.
According to county records, Gallegos resigned less than a month later, saying in his resignation letter, "Circumstances leading to my resignation were less than ideal, both you and Angelica (the former Assistant DA) showed me you truly care about my well-being and for that I will always be grateful."
We reached out to Jimmy Granberry, the current Nueces County District Attorney who was appointed to the position by Governor Abbot and is seeking reelection in November who told us the DA's office should not have been involved in this case. “We would have absolutely recused ourselves from this...you can't prosecute cases where your employees are the defendants," Granberry said.
Kristi Britt, a prosecutor for the District Attorney's Office who is also running for DA, drafted the original DWI complaint against Gallegos. She told KRIS 6 she would also have recused the DA office, had she been in charge.
We did reach out to former District Attorney Mark Gonzalez, who refused to comment, as well as Mr. Gallegos who referred me to his attorney, who has yet to return our calls.
But what happens now? Since bringing this case to Granberry's attention, he says he will have an investigatory agency review the dismissal. "We're going to look into it or have someone else look into some of these things. We are not an investigatory office," Granberry said.
So there could be more on this case later, but our investigation also sparked a policy change at the DA’s office.
Remember how we told you there was a stamp of the former DA's signature on the dismissal? This was a regular practice, with forms that require the DA’s signature.
When Granberry found out about this, he made immediate changes. "We just picked up when I saw that it was stamped on the dismissal. I'm not going to use them. I'm good at signing my name."
We will let you know when there are any updates on this case.
