SISD Trustee Says Story About Whataburger "Fabricated"

"Its not fair that you're getting all the bad rap, or the bad press..."

Those are the words of SISD Trustee David Morales to YISD Superintendent Xavier De La Torre regarding the now-famous Whataburger incident in San Antonio, Texas in a recording that is now pretty much all over the internet.

SISD Trustee David Morales also says that the version of the story that SISD Superintendent Dr. Espinoza and the other SISD Trustees have been saying is a "fabrication".

SISD Superintendent Dr. Jose Espinoza has been sticking to his guns about a story that seems to be coming apart at the seams as more information comes to light.

I took the time to break down and sift through the recording to layout the most troublesome part of this account of what transpired.

SOURCE: Their own words.

Before I do that, here's a quick run-down of what happened - according to the police report. The police report says what Espinoza says happened - that De La Torre saw Espinoza, made a remark about how Espinoza was dressed. Espinoza says he asked De La Torre to repeat what he said and that De La Torre repeated it and head-butted Espinoza. Espinoza then says punched back in self-defense.

Well protecting your face sounds more like self-defense than punching someone. Punching someone sounds like retaliation - not self-defense, but thats just my own thoughts. Anywho, that is how Espinoza says it went down.

And so far the Superintendent of SISD, along with the SISD Board of Trustees have hung their argument on a few lines in the police report. But you know what that police report doesn't say?

That police report doesn't mention that 4 out of 7 of the SISD Trustees were actually there with Espinoza when the incident happened along with a district employee. So why is there only one witness in the police report - a witness who wasn't one of the 5 people that were actually with Espinoza?

That is odd, isn't it?

They all acknowledge being there but none of them are identified in the report as having been there. In fact, none of them stepped forward since this story broke to admit they where there - they only did so when they were asked by reporters.

According to one of his own Trustees, David Morales, that was at the Whataburger incident, Morales not only never saw De La Torre head-butt Espinoza, but he says De La Torre had his hands in his pockets at the time Espinoza punched him.



"You were pretty defenseless", Morales said to De La Torre.

An SISD Trustee characterized the events in such a way that was literally the exact opposite of how the SISD Superintendent Espinoza told the press it was self-defense at the SISD Board Meeting.

But lets stop here for a minute and address something really important. When this story first broke the feeding frenzy was all over YISD and De La Torre. Now that the details are coming out - turns out that it was actually four members of the SISD out late at night partying it up with the one employee they are responsible for holding accountable.

Thats a really important detail that needs to be remembered. Its the Trustees job to hold the Superintendent accountable and a majority of them are out hanging out late at night with him? Yeah, I know they'll say there's a social gathering exception for that many of them to be hanging out with him. But seriously, we need to expect more from our leaders than the bare minimum that what they were doing at that exact moment wasn't technically breaking the law. Its a bad practice to be hanging out with your Super when your job is to hold that person accountable.

How is the community supposed to trust that they are going to hold the superintendent accountable when they are out at Top Golf and Howl at the Moon - both places were alcohol is served for hours?

But come on, its Whataburger in Texas after midnight. You know what condition people are in...

If this story doesn't make you completely lose faith in elected leaders, then you're a better person than I. In this recording you have Morales himself - an SISD Board Member - characterizing the story that has come out about De La Torre allegedly head-butting Espinoza, therefore making Espinoza the "victim" - as a "fabrication".

His words, not mine.



To his credit, SISD Trustee Morales came forward and told De La Torre what happened. I'm sure the SISD Board of Trustees are going to scramble now to try to discredit Morales because well, what other option do they have?

But he did the right thing when he could have remained silent and the other trustees could have gotten away with it. And he indicates in the recordings exactly why he came forward - he saw how the initial coverage of the situation came out and it "didn't sit right" with him.



So this story boils down to something simple. Either Morales is lying about the entire situation - which there really is no reason why he would - or he's telling the truth and it would appear that a story was fabricated in order to cover for Socorro ISD's superintendent.

Socorro ISD's Superintendent was even so defiant that he said the police report said he was sober. I didn't see anything in that police report that says Espinoza was sober. It doesn't allude to his sobriety at all - but we do know he was out all day at Top Golf and according to the tape, out at a place called Howl at the Moon immediately before being in a Whataburger in the middle of the night.

The short of it is that Morales says that De La Torre never head-butted Espinoza. He says, and De La Torre appears to confirm, that upon being punched that De La Torre said an expletive and and said "that's assault'.
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The Police Report

Now the SISD Superintendent and his board are all wanting to rely on the report. So here are some thoughts about that report. We now know that there were a group of 6 people from Socorro ISD there and only one from YISD. Who has more people that will say something happened a particular way, whether it did or not?

Socorro ISD.

Morales also calls into question how the police report went down. Again, in his own words, Morales essentially says that the responding officer - after talking to everyone involved (6 from Socorro, 1 from YISD) allegedly told the off-duty officer (identified as the witness) what to write in the report...

He also makes reference to Guerra's level of intoxication...and alludes to the idea that Guerra was mouthing off and wanting to be in an altercation with De La Torre.



"...and he told the little guy what to write..., at that point they flipped it around and put you..." Morales said to De La Torre. The "he" being referred to is the responding officer and the "little guy" is the off-duty cop who was in the report.

Again that is a pretty big allegation to make.

Morales goes on to say that the responding officer "saved our asses" a few seconds later.



What are we left with? Well we have a police report that one of the Socorro ISD Trustees - who was there - says contained testimony from the person marked as the witness, who was an off-duty officer, that was directed by the responding officer.

You have four trustees that were out with their superintendent for several hours that day and into the evening.

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Where the Hell is Trustee Paul Guerra?

You have three SISD Trustees that said that they didn't see a head-butt - Paul Garcia, David Morales, and Eddie Mena, and you have one trustee....who isn't saying anything.

Paul Guerra.

Guerra hasn't said anything to any media outlet on the record. Guerra had beef with De La Torre back with De La Torre was the Superintendent at SISD.

And as mentioned earlier, Morales' comments in the tape allude to Guerra also wanting to get into a physical altercation with De La Torre, and having had to be restrained by one of the SISD trustees - which was exactly how it was accounted to a YISD trustee.

Trustee Paul Guerra is literally the only person that was at the scene who has not said anything. Not a single one of the trustees from Socorro ISD that were present at the incident has backed up Espinoza's story of being head-butted.

Not one.

I'm not sure why the media hasn't picked up on that yet, but you'd think that the same guys that were there standing behind the superintendent as he doubled-down saying he was the victim would have had the morale courage to say in front of their community, what they said to reporters so far...that they didn't see De La Torre ever head-butt Espinoza.

Instead they are all jumping on a police report that, before any of this stuff broke out, one of the SISD Trustees in attendance says was "flipped" on to De La Torre.

Think about this - 3 out of 4 Trustees said they didn't see things go down the way the police report says it went down. And they are standing (literally) behind their superintendent?

I'm not saying De La Torre is a saint, but last I checked it wasn't illegal to be a grown adult drinking when you aren't at work. I mean how many of you reading this haven't had anything to drink when you were not at work. I'm gonna guess that most people reading this have consumed alcohol when they were off work.

Personally, I'm not ever gonna allow myself to be coaxed over to the opposite side of the street where there is a group of 6 guys waiting for me. Thats just not smart.

And now we see how things played out.

YISD is holding a special meeting to hold their superintendent accountable for his actions in this incident. Read any comment section in any of the reports and you will see the overwhelming number of people are saying they should both be punished for what went down.

What is SISD doing to hold their Superintendent accountable and be responsive to the community?

Absolutely nothing. In fact, rather than hold him accountable, they are standing behind him.

And that ladies and gentlemen, is a sad commentary on Socorro ISD and a terrible example for their students. One of which is my own daughter.