Indefinite suspension of Officer Elizabeth Montoya reduced to 45 days. A San Antonio police officer fired in 2019 after department footage showed her repeatedly punching a handcuffed pregnant woman in the head has been reinstated to SAPD by a third-party arbitrator. Officer Elizabeth Montoya, an eight-year veteran of SAPD at the time of her January 2019 firing, testified during her arbitration hearing in March that she was trying to gain compliance from suspect Kimberly Esparza during the July 2018 incident west of downtown. San Antonio’s city attorney expressed disappointment in the ruling Wednesday while pointing out that the arbitration was heard under the previous collective bargaining agreement. SAPD in-car camera footage played during Montoya’s hearing showed her punch Esparza seven times in the head. Esparza was handcuffed, barefoot and six months pregnant. Montoya’s attorney in March utilized SAPD body-camera footage to show that Esparza “mule kicked” Montoya repeatedly during an attempted drug search. “She was screaming in my face and she was very close. And I was afraid I was going to either get spit on or head-butted,” Montoya testified in March, when asked why she used her open palm to push Esparza’s head to the side while trying to buckle her into an SAPD patrol vehicle
via ksat: SAPD officer fired for repeatedly punching handcuffed pregnant woman wins back her job