Police: Man Assaults, Threatens El Paso Officer
Monica Balderrama-KFOX News Reporter

Posted: 6:22 pm MDT July 12, 2010Updated: 10:01 pm MDT July 12, 2010
EL PASO, Texas -- A man who claims to a Barrio Azteca gang member is behind bars after he wrestled a police officer to the ground and made death threats.

The incident happened last week at Hiney's Sports Restaurant in the Lower Valley. Police officials said Orlando Paiz, 28, was causing a disturbance and was being arrested for public intoxication when he grabbed the officer in a head lock.

"He began to assault the officer. Eventually what happens is the officer was grabbed and taken to the ground," said Darrel Petry, a spokesman for the El Paso Police Department.

Two people had to help the officer by removing Paiz. Paiz was placed under arrest but then began to threaten the officer saying, "You're taking their side. You're just doing that because you know I'm an Azteca," according to an arrest affadavit. He went on, "You're going to die and you're gonna [expletive] die, I got connections."

"I believe the implication there was that he has friends, friends that could be aggressive in nature. That will be presented in court, handled and judged there," said Petry.

Petry said it's not something that's taken lightly. Paiz is charged with retaliation. Petry said the case was forwarded to the gang unit, which will be able to determine if the threats are real or not. He said officers are trained to be vigilant even outside work.

"They are dangerous, and we do use caution. It's an unfortunate event for everybody involved. The officer sustained injuries to his shoulder," said Petry.

Paiz went from a public intoxication charge to two felony charges, assault on a public servant and obstruction or retaliation. He's being held on a $10,000 bond.

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