SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio police officer has been suspended three days after surveillance footage showed him shove a man inside a Northwest Side dental office before repeatedly getting punched by the 66-year-old.
Officer Robert Pompa Jr., a six-year veteran of SAPD, served the suspension in mid-November, after an internal affairs investigation determined he violated rules covering conduct and behavior.
Pompa also shoved his credentials into the man’s forehead, according to the video.
KSAT obtained the approximately eight minutes of video through an open records request.
The footage was recorded inside an office in the 7900 block of Fredericksburg Rd. on May 25.
It shows an off-duty Pompa pull on the locked entrance door while the man is seated inside, just a few feet away.
The 66-year-old man declines to get up and open the door and at one point appears to tap on the window near the entrance.
An employee of the dental office eventually walks up and opens the door from the inside, allowing Pompa and three other people to come in.
The footage, which does not contain audio, shows Pompa speak to the man briefly as he walks by before stopping and speaking to the man again while Pompa points away from him.
The man, who had remained seated, gets up and approaches Pompa as both men gesture with their hands.
After the two men get face-to-face, Pompa delivers a two-handed shove to the man, sending him backwards several feet.
The man gathers his balance and then takes several steps toward Pompa before swinging at his face with a closed fist, the footage shows.
The man strikes Pompa in the face several times with his hand as Pompa appears to try and hold him back near the bottom of the screen.
At one point during the skirmish, Pompa’s sunglasses fly off the hat he is wearing backwards.
The footage shows the two men get face-to-face again, when Pompa pulls out his police credentials and places them against the man’s face.
The man again swings at Pompa and strikes the off-duty officer in the head multiple more times, the footage shows.
Pompa then makes a call on his cell phone before briefly exiting the office.
The other man eventually appears back on screen while also on his cell phone.
An SAPD incident report, which incorrectly has the mens’ names swapped, states that Pompa was punched three times with a closed fist and had a slightly swollen upper lip when officers arrived.
The other man, who KSAT is not naming because he has not been charged in the incident, had a small cut on his right eyebrow, the report states.
SAPD officials confirm no arrests were made in the case.