{"id":405050,"date":"2026-08-13T01:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T01:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/405050\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T01:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T01:18:11","slug":"they-crossed-the-line-with-my-sons-michelle-barrientes-vela-slams-sapd-response-at-her-property","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/405050\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018They crossed the line with my sons\u2019: Michelle Barrientes Vela slams SAPD response at her property"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Former Bexar County constable Michelle Barrientes Vela has sounded off on San Antonio emergency personnel who responded to the family\u2019s auto dealership after KSAT Investigates exposed body camera footage<\/a> of the violent 2024 altercation between her sons and San Antonio police officers.<\/p>\n

The videos were released after the criminal charges filed against Michael, Anthony and Carlos Barrientes Vela were resolved in court earlier this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe law enforcement really just failed that night,\u201d said Barrientes Vela during a wide-reaching interview with KSAT Investigates. \u201dThey failed my sons. They failed me, and they failed every community member that\u2019s ever been in that kind of position.\u201d<\/p>\n

A medical call turns volatile<\/p>\n

San Antonio Police Department officers were dispatched around 9:30 p.m. on April 29, 2024, to an auto dealership at 1252 Bandera Road after paramedics responding to a medical emergency requested assistance.<\/p>\n

As paramedics treated a woman in an apartment at the back of the dealership, which Michelle Barrientes Vela\u2019s husband operates, \u201cbystanders that were there started to get violent,\u201d an SAPD incident report shows.<\/p>\n

Michelle Barrientes Vela pushed back on that narrative and denied that anyone at the apartment was violent toward paramedics.<\/p>\n

Body camera footage shows SAPD officers respond to the car lot with their lights and sirens on before getting out of their vehicles and sprinting inside the living unit.<\/p>\n

Michelle Barrientes Vela is seen on camera attempting to calm down her son Michael Barrientes Vela, 24, whose girlfriend was being treated by paramedics a few feet away.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was just emotionally upset and had a right to express his emotions,\u201d said Michelle Barrientes Vela, who told KSAT she was surprised to see SAPD officers rush into the living area of the property.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have no warrant. You have no probable cause,\u201d said Michelle Barrientes Vela. \u201dThere\u2019s no crime occurring. But yet here you are entering private property.\u201d <\/p>\n

While the woman in medical distress was wheeled out of the living unit on a stretcher crying, Michael Barrientes Vela consoled her and said he was going with her to the hospital.<\/p>\n

An officer agreed that Michael Barrientes Vela was going to go with the woman.<\/p>\n

Moments later, however, tensions escalated after a paramedic told Michael Barrientes Vela he could not ride in the ambulance. The paramedic then asked Michael if he and the woman \u201ctook anything,\u201d referring to \u201copiates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anthony Barrientes Vela then stepped between officers. His brother, Michael, then told officers, \u201cDo not touch me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The footage shows Michael moving toward the ambulance as two officers tackle him to the ground.<\/p>\n

Carlos, who held a terrier-mix dog, and Anthony were also taken to the ground. The brothers and officers screamed expletives at one another, the footage shows.<\/p>\n

An officer then shot Michael Barrientes Vela with a stun gun as he lay on the ground.<\/p>\n

As Anthony continued to argue with an officer, his father told Anthony he was making things worse.<\/p>\n

Three officers were injured during the melee, including SAPD officer Andrew Davis. Davis\u2019 shoulder was dislocated, the footage shows.<\/p>\n

SAPD Officer Andrew Davis suffered a dislocated shoulder during the melee. (KSAT)<\/p>\n

Both Michelle Barrientes Vela and her husband are shown in the body camera footage instructing their sons to cool off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that, yeah, if I hadn\u2019t been there, I\u2019d be burying my sons. There\u2019s no doubt about it. And I\u2019m trying as a mother because sure I\u2019m a police officer, but I\u2019m a mother. I was there as a mother that night with my sons,\u201d said Michelle Barrientes Vela. \u201cWhat I saw in front of me was movements of struggle to just survive, just survive. They crossed the line with my sons. That was an emotion, and they abused their authority with my boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

She shared with KSAT cell phone video recorded at the scene showing then-SAPD officer Henry Hathaway lifting Michael off the ground while handcuffed and then dropping him off screen.<\/p>\n

Michael Barrientes Vela suffered a broken hand during the incident, his mother confirmed to KSAT.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then boom, drops him. He is not a threat. There is no way he can come to the officer. He is handcuffed,\u201d said Michelle Barrientes Vela. \u201cIt\u2019ll always be there. Everything that transpired that night will never be erased from my mind, and it sure in hell is never going to be erased from my sons\u2019 minds.\u201d<\/p>\n

SAPD officials this week confirmed Hathaway left employment with the agency in May 2025.<\/p>\n

He is one of several officers named in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by the brothers against SAPD and the San Antonio Fire Department last September.<\/p>\n

Then-SAPD Officer Henry Hathaway lifts up Michael Barrientes Vela while the suspect is handcuffed. Barrientes Vela’s family says he suffered a broken hand after being dropped by the officer. (KSAT)<\/p>\n

SAPD officials did not respond to a request from KSAT about Hathaway\u2019s actions that night.<\/p>\n

City officials previously told KSAT, \u201cThe City believes there is no merit to the lawsuit and will vigorously defend its position in court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Body camera video recorded by Hathaway was not included in the footage released to KSAT by the Bexar County District Attorney\u2019s Office earlier this year.<\/p>\n

KSAT could find no record that any officer who responded to the call was disciplined, even after body camera footage showed one of them referring to Carlos Barrientes Vela as a \u201cfat piece of s—.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brothers avoid felony assault conviction<\/p>\n

All three brothers were charged with felony assault on a peace officer, resisting arrest and interference with public duties.<\/p>\n

SAPD also charged Anthony Barrientes Vela with unlawful carry of a weapon after a small handgun was found in his pocket.<\/p>\n

Records show that charge, however, was rejected by a magistrate judge hours later.<\/p>\n

The brothers appeared in court last year as part of an unsuccessful effort<\/a> to have Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales\u2019 office removed from prosecuting their cases.<\/p>\n

Attorneys for the trio argued that past comments made by Gonzales about Michelle Barrientes Vela were a violation of due process.<\/p>\n

In late April, two years to the day since the brothers were arrested, Michael Barrientes Vela was convicted by a jury<\/a> of resisting arrest but not for the more serious charge of assaulting a peace officer.<\/p>\n

He was given 180 days in jail, which was suspended for a year, court records show.<\/p>\n

A week later, in early May, Anthony and Carlos Barrientes Vela<\/a> pleaded no contest to resisting arrest and were given deferred adjudication and six months of probation each.<\/p>\n

The duo was also not convicted of felony assault of a peace officer.<\/p>\n

Asked about Gonzales, Michelle Barrientes Vela told KSAT this week, \u201cI think the community realized who he is now. It is unfortunate because I would have hoped that we would have had a great district attorney, regardless of party affiliation, that was going to be there to seek justice, not convictions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gonzales did not respond to a request seeking comment from KSAT on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Michelle Barrientes Vela served as Bexar County Precinct 2 Constable from January 2017 to October 2019.<\/p>\n

She left office weeks after publicly announcing plans to run for Bexar County sheriff.<\/p>\n

The announcement triggered the state\u2019s \u201cresign-to-run\u201d law, which prevents certain elected officials from staying in office if they have publicly announced plans to seek a higher office.<\/p>\n

Michelle Barrientes Vela was convicted in 2022 of felony tampering with records after investigators said she mishandled security fees collected at a West Side park and created handwritten cash logs related to the collection of those fees in an effort to impact the criminal investigation.<\/p>\n

The convictions were reversed<\/a> by an appeals court in 2024, and the ex-Precinct 2 constable was formally acquitted<\/a> of all charges early last year after the state\u2019s highest criminal appeals court declined to review the case.<\/p>\n

Michelle Barrientes Vela then ran for the Texas House of Representatives District 125, but she lost in the Democratic runoff in May.<\/p>\n

She told KSAT this week that much of her time is now being spent operating the nonprofit Justice Impact Institute.<\/p>\n

Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Former Bexar County constable Michelle Barrientes Vela has sounded off on San Antonio emergency personnel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[698,10827,82,84,83,632],"class_list":["post-405050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-bexar-county","tag-michelle-barrientes-vela","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-sapd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405050","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=405050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}