Dying for Answers: Eduardo’s Story
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – What was to be a quiet winter night with some drinks and food forever changed the lives of two men in January 2021. One of them lay critically injured outside a downtown bar, and the other faced criminal charges as a member of the El Paso Police Department.
On January 30, 2021, Eduardo Reyes, an Arizona truck driver, stopped at The Tap restaurant in Downtown El Paso after dropping his father off at the Paso Del Norte Bridge. He told KTSM he chose the Tap that evening because COVID restrictions were in effect, and it was the only spot open Downtown.
He sat down at the bar and began ordering drinks. He admits he was buzzed and grew frustrated with the bartender because of what he said was slow service. The man sitting a few seats away offered him a taco, and he moved to sit closer.
“So then, when I did that, I just heard someone yell from across the bar ‘Hey! You can’t do that!’,” Reyes explained.
COVID restrictions were in effect, and the City of El Paso imposed strict social distancing guidelines for bars and restaurants hoping to reopen to the public.
“She told me to move back to my seat. I will take that from nobody, you know, especially if I’m a paying customer. That’s when we started arguing,” Reyes said.
That’s when another man, Armando Diaz, interfered.
“And this guy was like, ‘Hey man, why don’t you leave her alone? ‘ I was arguing with him. ‘Who the **** are you? Shut your mouth. Don’t talk to me like that.'”
The pair took the fight outside, and a bystander began recording them as they threw punches. Reyes claims Diaz threw the first punch.
“Yeah, it was just a fight. I mean, there’s nothing. It was not too serious, you know, there’s two guys fighting, you know,” Reyes told KTSM.
According to witness statements provided in EPPD’s Internal Affairs investigative report, Reyes also attempted to assault Diaz’s girlfriend. Moments later, Reyes and Diaz went to their vehicles parked nearby, and Reyes grabbed his brass knuckles. Reports do not say if Diaz retrieved anything from his vehicle.
Reyes justified grabbing his brass knuckles, saying, “The thing was, it was over, but he kept messing with me, you know? But I’m kind of scared because I’m by myself. I don’t want to get jumped; I don’t want to get beat up.”
A statement provided to EPPD’s Internal Affairs team by Diaz’s girlfriend stated that she saw Reyes holding the brass knuckles in his right hand and coming towards her. That’s when Diaz stepped in. Reyes dropped the brass knuckles, and Diaz kicked them away.
According to the woman’s statement, afterward, “the male with the large belly wanted to hug Diaz.”
That’s when EPPD officer Anthony Greer and his partner arrived on their bikes.
Another bar patron told the investigative team that she “saw both males stop fighting when the police officers arrived, and it did not look like the males were giving the officer any problems.”
That’s when Officer Greer, without warning, fired one shot at Reyes, striking him in the chest.
“So when I turn around, I see Greer and his little bike, and he drops it all and pulls out his gun. And then I was like, ‘What though?’ So I put my hands like that. I’m not doing anything wrong, walking away,” said Reyes. “They’re just going to ask me about the fight or whatever. But then he pulls up, and he throws the bike, and he pulls a gun. Okay, well, he’s going to find out that I don’t have a gun. Right? And he just proceeded to shoot me.”
That’s when Diaz, the man fighting Reyes outside the bar, revealed his identity.
“Once I get shot, he reaches out, and that’s his badge. So he had his badge the whole time,” said Reyes.
Diaz was an off-duty El Paso Police Department Detective.
Reyes was left with life-altering injuries, spending 40 days in the hospital in police custody.
“So I got shot right here. So they had to cut me open, and they had to have a colostomy bag. Now. So, I do number two in the bag. Ever since that day, my health went, it’s gone,” Diaz said.
He was ultimately charged with Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon because he’d brought out his brass knuckles in the fight.
“I take accountability for my actions, but they didn’t even give me that chance. They were trying to kill me,” Diaz said.
Meanwhile, Officer Greer was under investigation, and less than two months later, police sent an updated press release, saying Greer was arrested and criminally charged after EPPD’s Crimes Against Persons Unit and the Texas Rangers investigation determined his use of deadly force was unreasonable.
The arrest affidavit goes on to say, “Witness accounts and video obtained through the investigation tends to corroborate the complainant’s (Reyes) account that he was not a threat to the defendant (Greer), or the public at the time of the shooting.”
The affidavit states, “Further investigation revealed the defendant called a police supervisor and stated, ‘I f***d up, I’m going to jail.” Greer allegedly told another EPPD supervisor that Reyes faced toward him, and his gun went off. Greer declined to give a statement to Crimes Against Persons detectives before he was charged with Aggravated Assault and booked on a $50,000 bond.
“So as long as he was accountable for his actions, I would do it fine without the money or him just going to jail, you know?” said Reyes.
Only, that’s not what happened.
El Paso, Police Public Affairs office released a statement saying Officer Greer was relieved of duty, but according to police, ‘Relieved of Duty’ can mean temporarily suspending an officer’s active duties while an investigation or review takes place.
Despite being criminally charged by EPPD, in October 2022, the internal affairs shooting review board determined Greer did not violate any department policy, putting him back on patrol, where he remains as an on-duty officer to this day.
Reyes feels frustrated by the outcome, “I feel my pain every day. I see myself. I’m I’m all cut up. I poop through a bag. So, you know, he’s not going to learn nothing.”
He sued Greer, Diaz, and the City of El Paso. According to federal court records, the case was resolved in April on undisclosed terms.
As for Greer’s criminal charges, Reyes was told the case was dismissed in court in April 2023.
KTSM reached out to District Attorney Bill Hicks only to find out that wasn’t true — the case was never even reviewed.
“The statute of limitations ran on the case before we had an opportunity to really review it and do anything with it. That is regrettable,” said Hicks. “It is unfortunate that it was not properly handled in the first three months of this administration.”
As KTSM previously reported in 2022, elected District Attorney Yvonna Rosales failed to indict over 850 misdemeanor and felony cases, which reached the statute of limitations. Hicks, who was appointed by Governor Abbott in December 2022, did not have a chance to review the case involving Officer Greer until three months into his tenure at DA, but it was two months past the statute of limitations.
“I’m very sorry that this happened to him. It is unfair. It is unjust. One way or another, he should, whose case deserved to be to be reviewed appropriately. I don’t know if a grand jury would have indicted or not. I don’t know. But he deserved to have that opportunity to have his case properly reviewed,” Hicks told KTSM.
Criminal charges against Reyes for his role in the bar fight were also dismissed in September 2022.
With a new police chief, EPPD says it is providing more training for its officers regarding the misuse of force.
Even with the statement from EPPD and the final explanation from the District Attorney’s office, Reyes is still left with one thought, “I’m not the first person, and I’m not going to be the last.”
Reyes has a GoFundMe for his ongoing medical expenses caused by the gunshot wound he received.
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