State school fight footage shown in court

Judge lowers ex-employee' s bond to $15K

By Mary Ann Cavazos (Contact)
Originally published 12:11 p.m., March 20, 2009
Updated 12:26 a.m., March 21, 2009

Dixon’s bond was reduced from $30,000 to $15,000 by District Judge Sandra Watts.

CORPUS CHRISTI — Cell phone footage of Corpus Christi State School residents with mental disabilities shows them punching, strangling and wrestling with one another in fights encouraged by employees.

Prosecutors showed four videos of the fights in court Friday during a bond reduction hearing for Timothy Dixon, one of six former state school employees facing charges of injury to a disabled person.

In one clip, two residents repeatedly punch each other as employees in the background encourage them. The two try to strangle each other for several seconds.

In another, one resident is put in a headlock and thrown to the floor by a resident and then kicked several times by an employee who is encouraging the fight. The resident is seen sitting on the floor after the fight tugging at his lower lip, apparently in pain, until an employee gives him a slap on the body and then pulls him up.

A third clip shows two residents in what began as a shoving match, switched to a pillow fight and ended when one pinned the other on a couch covering his face with pillows.

One video showed a resident following another from room to room until he backed into a bedroom, jumping up on a bed trying to escape. The other resident then also jumps onto the bed as the other leaves. Soon after, there is a crash, and then the sound of someone crying.

The camera then pans to a wailing resident, while employees tell him to stop crying.

Detective Curtis Abbott testified the four videos shown Friday all appeared to be taken by Dixon, who could be heard narrating some of the bouts between male residents. Abbott said the cell phone turned over to police on March 3 was registered to Dixon’s common-law wife. About 20 videos and dozens of images were retrieved from the phone. Other employees are seen in the footage also filming fights.

Abbott described Dixon as the one who led the organization of the fights.

District Attorney Carlos Valdez asked that Dixon’s $30,000 bond either stay the same or be increased to $50,000 citing the severity of the case.

He accused Dixon, 30, of abusing his position and said the footage showed it had not been an isolated incident.

“The inhumanity that’s exhibited on that video is horrifying,” he said. “It’s not something we have to guess at. The proof is evident in this case because of the videotape(s) .”

Dixon’s attorney, Ira Miller, had requested a $10,000 bond, saying his client wasn’t a flight risk, didn’t strike any resident and hadn’t been able to raise the funds for his release.

District Judge Sandra Watts said while Valdez made a persuasive argument it applied more to a punishment phase than the bond amount.

Bond must be set according to several factors, she said, including setting a bond high enough to reasonably ensure a person will appear in court and looking at the nature of the offense and the safety of the victims and community.

Watts then lowered Dixon’s bond from $30,000 to $15,000. If released, Dixon must follow pre-trial conditions including a curfew and must stay away from the state school, co-defendants and the victims.

Five others also face charges of injury to a disabled person. Jesse Salazar, 25, Guadalupe Delarosa Jr., 21, Vince P. Johnson, 22, and Dangelo Riley, 22 are all charged with third-degree felonies. Stephanie N. Garza, 21, is charged with a state jail felony.

Johnson, Salazar and Garza have bonded out of jail. Riley and Delarosa, who have $30,000 bonds, have not been arrested.

Police said the criminal investigation is ongoing and more arrests are possible.

Eleven employees were identified in the videos and no longer work at the state school. Seven of the employees including Dixon, Johnson, Garza and Salazar initially were placed on paid leave but were fired March 13. Last year, Riley and Delarosa resigned and two others were fired before the investigation started, said Laura Albrecht, a spokeswoman for the Department of Aging and Disability Services.

Contact Mary Ann Cavazos at 886-3623 or cavazosm@caller. com