El Paso police arrested a woman who was forcibly removed for allegedly disrupting a Public Service Board meeting where a 12.2% water rate hike was approved, a police spokesperson said.
The arrest took place as El Pasoans have expressed frustration following a large-scale water outage that affected more than 100,000 El Paso Water customers in Northeast and Central this week, even as water bills are set to increase.
Natasha Cristina Acevedo, 35, was booked into jail on Wednesday, Jan. 14, on misdemeanor charges of disrupting a meeting and resisting arrest, stated a news release by Detective Judy Oviedo, a El Paso Police Department spokeswoman.
Natasha Cristina Acevedo was arrested on charges of disrupting a meeting and resisting arrest after being removed by force by El Paso police officers during a meeting on a water rate hike at the Public Service Board of El Paso on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026.
El Paso County jail records show that Acevedo was released Thursday, Jan. 15, on a $100 personal recognizance bond on each charge, which doesn’t require the posting of money and only a promise to appear in court. No attorney is listed for Acevedo on court records.
“We do not have clean water,” Acevedo yelled as an El Paso police officer dragged her out of the meeting room before she was tackled to the floor and officers held her down before she was taken away in an elevator, showed news video from Channel 9-KTSM.
The meeting room had reached capacity and Acevedo had been asked to move to an overflow area when she became disruptive and began repeatedly yelling that the water was contaminated and that she lived in the area affected by the major water outage and boil notice in Northeast and Central El Paso.
On Wednesday, El Paso Water said that service was restored to impacted customers and 15 water reservoir tanks that had been depleted were now filled and in operation.
The Public Service Board of El Paso voted 5-2 to approve a proposed 12.2% rate increase from El Paso Water.
Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com and @BorundaDaniel on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso police arrest woman accused of disrupting PSB water meeting