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Background: The San Antonio Police Department Station (Google Maps). Inset: Cassidy Costa (LinkedIn).
Two Texas police officers are out of a job after an investigation into an alleged domestic violence incident while they were dating.
As reported by local ABC affiliate KSAT, Cassidy Costa was terminated from the San Antonio Police Department after receiving an indefinite suspension as of April 30. KSAT detailed that, per police records, Costa — a three-year veteran officer — was dismissed for violations of the department’s rules and demonstrating a lack of good character. Costa was accused of assaulting another former SAPD officer, Patrick Earles, who apparently reported Costa’s actions to an unidentified colleague within the SAPD. According to the SAPD, Costa’s behavior was deemed “detrimental to effective law enforcement and the needs of the San Antonio Police Department.”
However, Earles was interviewed by the SAPD’s Special Victims Unit and gave them a conflicting story.
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Documents obtained by KENS, a CBS affiliate in the area, revealed that the SAPD was initially alerted to a “family violence incident” involving Costa and Earles after a third, unnamed officer received text messages from Earles about the event. The records show that Earles texted the other officer, “Do you know how ridiculous it is that I had to go to work and lie about how I got a black eye?” In reference to Costa, he told the officer, “Because she busted my eye open.”
The records also show that Earles informed the other officer that Costa “sometimes forces her hands into my mouth and pulls down on my lip from between my lip and gums [too] so I can stop talking.”
When Earles was questioned about the alleged physical abuse during his interview with the SVU, he downplayed the altercations he had with Costa. According to records related to his own suspension that KENS obtained, he said the fights were “nothing physical” and “just a lot of arguing.”
He reportedly said that he was “not sure how it got reported like that.”
After the interview, Earles reportedly told his colleague, “Well, I can’t tell SVU the truth.” He also expressed concern for what reporting the assaults would do to Costa’s career. KENS reported that according to the records, the colleague urged Earles to be honest, to which he replied, “No, I can’t do that.”
Earles was placed on indefinite suspension on April 10.
KSAT obtained a letter filed on behalf of Costa stating that she is appealing her firing, saying that Earles recanted his claims of assault up to 30 times. The letter also reportedly stated that if the SAPD believed that an assault took place, then Earles would have committed perjury.
Criminal charges have not been filed against either Costa or Earles.
