Trial opens in Odessa with body, dash cam video
Oct. 3—Jurors who will decide the fate of an Odessa man accused of fleeing from a handful of police officers in June 2021 watched dash cam and body cam videos of the event Monday during the first day of trial.
Roberto Serrano Franco, 45, is facing four counts of aggravated assault against a public servant and one count of evading arrest with a vehicle.
Odessa Police Officer Calvin Taylor was the first witness called to the stand by Assistant Ector County District Attorney Melissa Williams.
Taylor testified the police department received a call about a stolen work truck around 2:30 a.m. June 23, 2021 and officers spotted it inside a garage near 37th Street and Andrews Highway.
The officer told jurors he saw three people standing outside the garage, which had its door opened halfway. Two of the three ran inside when they spotted him and he was able to detain the other one, telling him if he tried to run his canine partner would bite him.
Jurors watched as someone inside the garage started up the stolen vehicle and Taylor moved to the rear of his patrol unit to get stop sticks. They then saw the truck come careening through the garage door and head down the alley as multiple shots are fired.
They also heard OPD Officer Bailey Thurman yell out in pain and saw the other officers rush to his side. Thurman explained the stolen truck had hit a parked vehicle, which hit him.
Taylor told jurors that up until that point he didn't know if the suspect had returned fire and if Thurman had been hit by that gunfire.
During her opening statement, Williams told jurors that after Franco left the scene, he ran a red light on Andrews, slamming into a vehicle being driven by a woman taking her mother for dialysis.
Officers found the wrecked truck and Franco the next day.
When officers moved into arrest Franco, Williams said he ran into and out of a neighbor's home, whom he didn't know, but he was caught.
Authorities found Franco's blood in the stolen vehicle and he confessed he stole it and fled from authorities, Williams said. He said he thought he had a warrant.
Defense attorney Kevin Acker reserved his opening statement for when the state rests its case.
Judge Denn Whalen of the 70th Ector County District Court is presiding over the trial.
