{"id":265382,"date":"2026-04-25T04:02:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T04:02:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/265382\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T04:02:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T04:02:28","slug":"defense-attorney-breaks-down-issues-in-chaotic-arrest-at-el-paso-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/265382\/","title":{"rendered":"Defense attorney breaks down issues in chaotic arrest at El Paso business"},"content":{"rendered":"

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM<\/a>) \u2014 An El Paso defense attorney said that police officers when they put on their badge are expected to have a \u201chigher standard of professionalism, of courtesy and care when patrolling our streets.\u201d<\/p>\n

KTSM spoke to defense attorney Omar Carmona after a viral video surfaced of a woman \u2014 now identified as Regina Viramontes \u2014 being punched by an El Paso Police officer while being arrested.<\/p>\n

What led up to EPPD officer punching woman at El Paso business during arrest <\/a><\/p>\n

This is the latest in a series of videos appearing to show El Paso Police using force during an arrest.<\/p>\n

Viramontes is facing multiple charges including possession of marijuana, harassment of a public servant, and resisting and evading arrest, according to court records obtained by KTSM.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy advice to my clients is where there is a valid warrant is to be as cooperative as possible,\u201d Carmona said. \u201cSometimes, a negative reaction can only make things worse. The last thing I want is for my client is to pick up new charges like resisting arrest, harassing a public servant or even assault on a public servant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carmona advised against jumping to conclusions until all the facts are known.<\/p>\n

Viramontes\u2019 defense attorney said during a court hearing on Friday, April 24 that Viramontes was subject to excessive force by police when she was stopped for a missing license plate.<\/p>\n

The defense attorney also said video showed Viramontes in handcuffs being punched multiple times in the face. The defense attorney also alleged officers followed her into her workplace without a warrant after initially failing to make contact during a traffic stop.<\/p>\n

Assistant District Attorney Dana Irwin said Viramontes failed to comply with repeated commands to stop. During the struggle to arrest her, the prosecution also alleges that Viramontes spit on an officer.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetter officers don\u2019t always react to certain things a person who is being arrested may do,\u201d Carmona said. \u201cAgain, someone should never spit on anyone, so you should never spit on a police officer. However, that being said, is the reaction proportional?\u201d<\/p>\n

Carmona said that Constitution does permit police officers to use \u201creasonable force\u201d to make an arrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are the key words \u2014 reasonable force,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut (the Constitution) does not permit excessive force,\u201d he said. \u201cEach incident, again, must be based on the totality of the circumstances, the severity of the alleged offense, the level of resistance, the threats posed at the time, the threat to officers, the community and even the person being arrested.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carmona also addressed a couple of other potential issues in this case.<\/p>\n

If a driver \u201cgenuinely\u201d does not realize they are being pulled over, police have several lawful options, he said. They can continue to follow the vehicle, use additional emergency signals, use loud speakers and coordinate with other police units to safely stop the vehicle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the driver continues to drive after police have clearly signaled for them to stop, officers interpret that as evading arrest or fleeing,\u201d Carmona said. \u201cIn Texas, we call that evading arrest with a vehicle. That is a third-degree felony.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a legal standpoint, it is the intent that matters,\u201d Carmona said. \u201cIf the driver can show that they weren\u2019t aware of the attempt to stop them, because of heavy traffic, noise, visibility issues, that can be a very important factor to the mental state of the driver and determining whether or not a crime has been committed.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for entering a business that is not open to the public without a warrant, the Fourth Amendment does offer protection for individuals and businesses against unreasonable searches and seizures.<\/p>\n

Police typically do need to have a warrant to enter a business that is not open to the public, unless there are some recognized exceptions \u2014 like consent was given or there was some kind of immediate danger or the potential destruction of evidence.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) \u2014 An El Paso defense attorney said that police officers when they put on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1680,99286,138,140,139,1785,99288,498,99287,2927,45919,55736,99289],"class_list":["post-265382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-arrest","tag-defense-attorney","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-el-paso-police","tag-excessive-force-by-police","tag-ktsm","tag-omar-carmona","tag-police-officers","tag-public-servant","tag-resisting-arrest","tag-viramontes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}