DA dismisses charge against man accused of running over slain Caldwell Co. deputy constable's arm

AUSTIN, Texas - The Travis County District Attorney's office has dismissed an assault charge against a man accused of running over slain Caldwell County deputy constable Aaron Armstrong's arm in January.

22-year-old Ronaldo Ernesto Colindres-Simon was charged with second-degree felony assault on a peace officer, but those charges were dismissed in April, with the DA citing "insufficient evidence - request of law enforcement" as the reason.

Dig deeper:

Colindres-Simon was one of two people charged in connection with Armstrong's death; the other is 38-year-old Thomas Vences.

Vences is still in the Travis County Jail on capital murder of a peace officer and multiple other unrelated charges as he had five active warrants to his name at the time of the shooting. He is being held without bond per court records.

Vences has a pre-trial hearing set for July 7th. 

The backstory:

On Jan. 4, just after 2 a.m., APD responded to an "assist agency hotshot" call saying a constable had been shot at Club Rodeo, at 9515 N. Lamar Boulevard.

When officers arrived, they were flagged down by pedestrians in the parking lot and pointed towards two parked cars where they found a uniformed deputy constable, later identified as Caldwell County Pct 3 deputy constable Aaron Armstrong, on the ground. A bystander had started a tourniquet and told police they had seen at least one gunshot wound to his upper right arm.

The bystander told police that a man had been in an altercation inside the bar and was escorted out by the deputy. The man left the parking lot, but then returned and was told by the deputy that if he kept causing issues, he would go to jail.

The man appeared agitated and was held back by two other men and a woman. One of the men was later identified by police as Colindres-Simon.

The bystander said the man had retrieved a gun from one of the cars. An expletive was yelled and the bystander said he heard a gunshot. He helped the deputy constable to the ground and began life-saving measures, including the tourniquet.

He told police that he saw Colindres-Simon get into one of the cars and try to leave. Colindres-Simon told the bystander he didn't want anything to do with this and wanted to leave. Despite the bystander's protests, Colindres-Simon allegedly got in the car and reversed over the deputy constable's arm with one tire.

The bystander prevented him from doing it to the deputy constable's other arm and yelled at him that he was running him over. The car then drove off.

Officers were able to identify the sedan Colindres-Simon was reportedly driving through a social media post, which showed a license plate not belonging to the sedan. Officers also determined two other vehicles had been involved; two of the three vehicles did not have license plates.

Officers did a traffic stop on the sedan for not having a license plate and matching the description of the vehicle that had fled the scene and run over the deputy constable's arm.

The driver of the sedan was identified as Colindres-Simon, who reportedly told police he was parked at Club Rodeo but left because he heard gunshots. However, footage from Armstrong's body camera showed Colindres-Simon as one of the men holding back the shooting suspect. He also matched the description given to police by the bystander.

Crime and Public SafetyNorth Austin