Tearful and sniffling, a 26-year-old Pasadena girl testified Thursday in federal court docket {that a} month after she was sexually assaulted by way of an Arcola cop during a 2019 traffic stop, she was identified with nervousness, acute PTSD and insomnia.
The girl took the witness stand in entrance of a stone-faced jury during the 3rd day of testimony within the case in opposition to Hector Ruiz, a former Arcola officer who has been in federal custody since his arrest on allegations of sexual attack by way of two ladies in two separate traffic stops in a three-month length.
The Houston Chronicle does no longer determine individuals who record sexual attack.
“I don’t like moving into a automobile or going nowhere,” the girl instructed the jury.
Prosecutors introduced the witness again to the evening of the development by way of showcasing movies, audio and textual content messages she’d despatched to her very best pal and mom. The girl recalled “sobbing” when Ruiz pulled her over on Nov. 16, 2019. She stated she was petrified of “ruining her life by drinking and driving.”
Hours earlier than the traffic stop, the girl testified that she and her pal were taking photographs of Patrón and consuming liquor on the Seaside Lounge in Houston. She additionally smoked marijuana earlier than and after the attack, she stated.
The girl instructed the jury that she felt the stop was bizarre from the beginning as a result of even though Ruiz said he smelled alcohol on her breath, he did not make her take a box sobriety take a look at or ask for her automobile registration or insurance coverage. The police officer simplest took her motive force’s license and instructed her to observe him in her automobile, she stated.
“I thought if I didn’t follow him he was just going to keep pulling me over,” the girl testified.
The girl stated Ruiz stopped her a 2nd time after she attempted to veer right into a well-lit fuel station. She stated Ruiz seemed “irritated” at that time.
Reported attack in darkish subdivision
Feeling “helpless,” the girl instructed jurors she adopted Ruiz to the darkish space beneath building within the Glendale Lakes subdivision and “feared death.”
Ruiz entered the passenger facet of her automobile, laid his gun holster belt in between them, and unzipped his pants, she instructed jurors.
“I was in panic survival mode,” the girl stated. Two of her members of the family watched from the court docket, seated in the back of the prosecution.
The girl stated Ruiz instructed her many times that she had to do one thing to persuade him to not arrest her, to “convince me not to take you to jail.” The officer instructed her to take a shot from the Patrón bottle in her automobile. It would calm her down, she recalled him announcing, since she was crying.
The girl stated she drove away round 3:31 a.m., about an hour after the preliminary stop. On her approach house, she phoned her pal and her mom and instructed them what took place. She remembered having to go out the subdivision earlier than calling somebody as a result of she could not get a sign on her telephone in that space.
“I was still crying, she could barely understand what I was saying,” the girl stated, recalling the telephone dialog that morning along with her mom.
Three days after the traffic stop, the girl instructed officers at Manvel Police Department she were assaulted.
“I didn’t want it to happen to nobody else,” the girl stated.
Defense questions girl’s cognitive state
The former officer’s protection lawyers narrowed in at the girl’s cognitive state during the traffic stop and her stage of inebriation of their cross-examination.
Attorney Nicole DeBorde requested the girl whether or not she remembered using in any respect that evening. The girl testified she “didn’t have a vivid memory” of her using.
“I remember getting in my car and starting the car,” the girl stated.
DeBorde then requested whether or not her reminiscence of the traffic stop were influenced by way of proof the prosecutors and different companies shared along with her since that evening, during their investigation into Ruiz. The witness stated when she did not know the solutions to cops’ questions she instructed them she “didn’t know.” She didn’t record that she were vaginally penetrated by way of the officer till investigators pointed in the market was semen within the crotch of the lingerie she’d introduced in as proof.
DeBorde additionally requested concerning the girl’s civil swimsuit in opposition to Ruiz and the Arcola Police Department. The girl testified that she sued in pursuit of “justice” and in hopes of making “change to the Arcola Police Department.”
The protection legal professionals will proceed their cross-examine of the girl on Monday.
Ruiz’s interview with Texas Rangers
Texas Ranger Thomas Norsworthy additionally testified previous Thursday, answering a spread of questions from prosecutor Sharad Khandelwal about his interview with Ruiz.
During the interview, Ruiz instructed Norsworthy that the girl got here onto him and stated “he was cute” during the traffic stop on Nov. 16, 2019. He additionally denied many times being drawn to “those kinds of girls.” The Texas Ranger stated he requested what Ruiz intended by way of that. Ruiz clarified that he wasn’t drawn to Black ladies, such because the accuser.
Ruiz to begin with instructed the investigator the cop and motorist simplest “hung out.” He instructed Norsworthy in a next interview that he’d had oral and vaginal intercourse with the girl on the subdivision.
“She grabbed my pants and she tries to unzip it,” Ruiz stated within the interview. “I instructed her, ‘What are you doing?'”
Ruiz stated they’d consensual intercourse. Afterward, he instructed investigators he gave the girl again her motive force’s license and drove away.
A 2nd girl who accused Ruiz of rape after a traffic stop is anticipated to testify early subsequent week. That girl, who Ruiz met during a prior traffic stop in August 2019, instructed police Ruiz threatened to have her deported, prosecutors stated.
Attorneys wait for the jury gets the case someday subsequent week.