No set date when 'Live PD' could return to El Paso

Daniel Borunda | El Paso Times

Buzz60

Two off-duty El Paso police officers featured on "Live PD" were at a Five Points bar before getting into a suspected drunk-driving crash with a parked car.

Officer Thomas Sneed was arrested Saturday on a driving-while-intoxicated charge and his passenger, Officer Andrea Zendejas, was injured when she hit the windshield during the crash, police documents stated.

'Live PD' in El Paso

Sneed and Zendejas were regulars on "Live PD" as they patrolled Northeast El Paso on the popular reality policing television program on the A&E cable network.

The TV show stopped filming in El Paso in November, moving on to other cities.

Courtesy El Paso Police Department

Whether "Live PD" returns is still to be decided, El Paso Police Department spokesman Sgt. Enrique Carrillo said Wednesday.

"Live PD" began filming in El Paso in October 2017 for a stint that was initially only going to be three to four months but was extended to more than a year, Carrillo said.

Zendejas, with her signature hair bun, became a fan-favorite on the TV show.

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More than three months after filming the El Paso police, viewers across the nation still ask on social media about when "Live PD" will return to El Paso.

The show's producers would have to want to return, Carrillo said. And El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen would decide whether to grant approval to allow film crews to ride-along with officers.

"There is no set date, if and when they return," Carrillo said.

Off-duty officers were at bar

Details about the DWI case and what Sneed told police are described in a police complaint affidavit obtained by the El Paso Times.

The crash occurred at 2:32 a.m. Saturday at North Piedras Street and Savannah Avenue in the Central area, police said.

Sneed told a police sergeant responding to the crash that he had worked that night until 9 p.m. Friday and that Zendejas had called him to go out to a bar, according to the complaint document.

About 9:45 p.m. Friday, the off-duty officers met at Dewey's Corner Pub, Sneed told Sgt. J. Esparza. Sneed told another officer that they went to Duets Karaoke Bar and Grill, the document stated.

Both bars are close to each other in Five Points, which is also home to El Paso Police Headquarters.

The document stated that Sneed told Esparza that he drank three shots. Sneed told another officer that he had two beers and two tequila shots, according to the complaint.

Crash into parked car

After leaving a bar, Zendejas asked Sneed to take her to her car but he decided to drive her to a friend's house, the document stated.

The document does not say why Sneed wanted to drop off Zendejas at a friend's house before he headed home.

After leaving the bar, the pair stopped for food at a taco truck, Sneed told police, according to the complaint.

Courtesy El Paso Police Department

"As they were driving up Piedras, (Sneed's) phone rang and he looked down at it," the document stated. "When (Sneed) looked back up, he saw the car."

Sneed's Dodge Ram 1500 pickup rear-ended a parked Mazda 3 with two men inside. Zendejas hit her head on the windshield, the complaint stated.

Sneed told police that he got out of his truck to check on the people in the car because he didn't think Zendejas was hurt, the complaint stated.

When he went back to Zendejas, Sneed saw "that her face was covered with blood" and that she "began to panic" and that he tried to calm her down, the complaint stated.

Paramedics arrived and transported Zendejas to a hospital for injuries that police described as minor.

The two men in the car, Israel Gallegos and Joseph Peterson, were not injured, police said.

Drunk driving arrest

The first two officers at the scene, A. Jeddery and D. Lopez, reported that when they arrived Sneed was chewing gum and had red, blood-shot, watery eyes; slurred speech; swayed balance; and the odor of alcohol on his breath, the complaint stated.

Other officers also reported noticing the same signs that Sneed had been drinking.

Sneed failed a field sobriety test and at 4:37 a.m. was arrested on a DWI charge, stated the complaint, which does not explain why Sneed was arrested nearly two hours after the crash.

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Sneed was given a breath-alcohol test with results of 0.075 and 0.074, just under the 0.08 breath-alcohol concentration legal limit in Texas, the complaint stated

Sneed was booked into the El Paso County Jail on a DWI charge and was later released on a $1,000 bond.

Sneed, who turned 39 on Wednesday, has been with the Police Department for two and a half years, police officials said. He is on desk duty pending an administrative investigation.