DALLAS — A Dallas couple that was wrongfully arrested on a murder charge, and subsequently had to spend Christmas in jail, is suing the police detective who investigated their case, according to court documents.
Basilio Tovar and Rubi Esparza are accusing Dallas Police Detective Josue Rodriguez of violating their Fourth Amendment rights by writing an affidavit that had "misleading" information that led to their arrests in December 2022.
The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Dallas, is demanding punitive damages from Rodriguez, alleging he was "recklessly or callously indifferent" to the couple's rights.
Attorneys James P. Roberts, Scott H. Palmer and Breanta Boss filed the lawsuit on behalf of Tovar and Esparza.
The couple was arrested early on the morning of Dec. 19, accused of killing 29-year-old Xavier Ramon Hernandez-Hankins, who was dating Tovar's sister.
Police later conceded that Tovar and Esparza did not kill Hernandez-Hankins, but not before they were arrested and held in jail over Christmas.
In a statement, Dallas police said, “detectives… had probable cause the suspects were involved in the murder.”
“Upon further investigation, it was determined they did not commit the crime,” the statement said. “We can confirm the paperwork has been filed for the charges to be dropped.”
Several weeks later, Bernardino Delgado Jr., 47, was arrested in Hernandez-Hankins' death, police said.
How the case developed
On the night of Nov. 5, 2022, Esparza, Tovar, his sister and Hernandez-Hankins all met up at the Player’s Bar on West Illinois Avenue in Oak Cliff. Esparza said they didn’t know Hernandez-Hankins well. It was the second time they’d met him.
According to the warrant, Tovar's sister later told a detective that Hernandez-Hankins got upset and left on foot. The warrant does not indicate why he’d gotten upset.
A shooting call came in at about 1 a.m. not far from the bar. Someone had shot and killed Hernandez-Hankins.
The couple said they didn’t find out until later that he’d been killed.
Tovar's cousin, who was with them at the bar that night, works in attorney Chris Mulder's law office. She told Mulder about the shooting. He said he told her to just wait for police to contact them for a statement.
Neither the cousin nor the couple were contacted for their statements prior to the couple’s arrest.
The couple drives a black Silverado with a bed cover similar to the suspect's vehicle. But Mulder said the rims on their truck are different than that of the suspected shooter’s.
The warrant says video surveillance showed a newer model black Silverado with chrome lining, chrome wheels and a bed cover pulling up next to him and then suddenly driving off.
"When I saw the probable cause affidavit, the warrant of arrest, then that really upset me,” Mulder said. “It basically says, ‘Y'all have a black pickup truck, and a black pickup truck was seen near the offense, time and date. That's it.’”
The couple said when police got them down to the homicide unit, they tried to turn them against each other.
“He said, “Well your wife already told me. You might as well go ahead and tell me why you did it,” Tovar said. “(I said,) I know my wife didn't tell you nothing because there's nothing to tell.”
Esparza said when she told the detective what she recalled from that night, “he came back and said, ‘You’re lying.’”
She said the detective implored her to think about her kids.
“Once I got the hang that he was trying to put something on me and my husband, I said, 'No. If I’m a suspect. I need an attorney,’” Esparza said. “So he got upset and he gave me his card and said, ‘Call me if your story changes.’”
Police booked Tovar and Esparza into the Dallas county jail.
“I was crying. I kept thinking about my kids, my husband, and I'm like murder like, this is crazy,” Esparza said.
What happened next?
After the couple’s arrest, Mulder said they began getting tips and information about the identity of the potential suspect. Once he’d gathered up the information, he drove to police headquarters on Dec. 22.
The detective was on vacation, he was told.
Esparza and Tovar spent Christmas in jail.
“When they finally looked at it, it was convincing enough where they cut these folks loose within a day,” Mulder said.
In the meantime, Esparza lost her accounting job. Police seized their truck, which remains in the Dallas police auto pound awaiting its release. They also seized their phones, which they have yet to get back.
Detectives searched their house, too.
“According to my mom, they turned it upside down. They went into our room and just took out everything,” Esparza said.
Esparza’s parents live in a home behind theirs.
“They're screaming back there to open the door and my parents just got shook up,” Esparza said. “When my mom got up, they didn't even let her go back to the room to get the baby."
“It was just something that I watch on TV,” Esparza said. “It's not something that I would expect to happen to us.”
Esparza spent 10 days in jail. The jail released Tovar after 11 days.
Esparza in January told WFAA that she was thankful her sons – 8 and 10 – weren’t home when police arrested them.
Mulder in January said the couple would probably still have been in jail if they didn’t have a relative working at a law firm.
Tovar told WFAA the detective called him in January.
“He just called me let me know that he was sorry for making a mistake,” Tovar said.
“Nobody should go through this,” Esparza said. “Police should really do a better job.”
