Officers from two law enforcement agencies are under investigation following their decision to drop off a suspected drunk driver at a fast food restaurant instead of taking him to jail.
Uriel Juarez-Popoca died after he left the Taco Bell and walked into traffic on July 28.
10 Investigates has analyzed the audio of a dash cam video that reveals new information. It sheds some light on why Juarez-Popoca ended up at the Taco Bell.
The video shows a highway patrol trooper pulling up to the scene where deputies already had Jaurez-Popoca in handcuffs. Deputies arrived after Juarez-Popoca plowed his truck into highway dividing cables.
"What do you guys got?" asked the trooper.
It appeared that neither agency was eager to investigate the crash.
"Well we, YOU'VE, got a mess," replied the deputy.
The deputies tell the trooper that they are going home.
"So I got a mess? I am going home too," said the trooper.
The video also shows the officers discussing how drunk they thought Juarez-Popoca was at the time.
"He's sitting in there, trucks running. I haven't oranged my lights... he looks at me like 'I'm so drunk I can't even figure out who you are,'" said the
deputy.
Then there is more discussion about who should handle Juarez-Popoca from there.
Trooper: "You guys don't want it, or what?"
Deputy: "You want it? You can have it."
Trooper: "I don't want it"
Deputy: "You don't want it?"
Trooper: "You guys stopped him, not me."
Deputy: "No, I found him (laugh)
Trooper: "There you go..."
Finally, the officers discuss why they plan on dropping Juarez-Popoca, who was an illegal immigrant, at a Taco Bell.
"Yeah, we're going to drop him off at Taco Bell, I figure they'll have someone there to interpret," said the deputy.
"There you go," said the trooper with a laugh.
Nobody from law enforcement is commenting while this case is under investigation.
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