Former Cop Sentenced
By Gregg Wendorf
Advance News Journal
Kudos to Federal Judge Randy Crane for the one-year probated sentence he handed down last week to former SJ Police Sergeant Juan Pablo “JP” Galindo. A just sentence, in my opinion. He could have been sentenced to a year in prison instead of probation.
On the other hand, while he was on the force, Galindo had his detractors, claiming he was too thick-skinned and had no business being a cop.
Of course, who really wants to be a cop these days when it seems the odds are stacked against you, with lawyers ready to pounce?
Up through the 1960s, some have told me through the early 1990s, being a cop was different. If someone mouthed off to you, you could take him “out back,” and teach him respect. No reprimands. No lawsuits. The criminals knew the rules – you mouth off, you’re going to pay the price.
Those days are long gone. Some lament their passing; others celebrate today’s world of cops and robbers, where robbers seem to have the upper hand.
I talked to one local cop the other day, who started working the beat in the early 1990s while some of the old guard (started in the ‘60s) were still around, and he said, “People used to respect police. Now when I go to a restaurant, I’m careful if I’m wearing a uniform, because I’m worried the guy in the back is going to spit in my food. That’s how bad it’s gotten.” He’s not joking.
“Too many people no longer have any respect for police,” he said. “Back in the day, were there a few bad apples (police), yeah, but not for the most part. Most people respected the police. In the old days, the guys in custody didn’t mouth off to the police because they knew they were going to get an @$$ whipping if they did.”
Right or wrong, but if you look at places like San Francisco, where the rule of law has completely collapsed, and the high-end retail shops downtown have closed their doors thanks to the smash-andgrabs, drug addicts squatting on the sidewalks, you have to wonder, how does a society retain its respect for the cops, the rule of law, if the perp can spit in their faces, break laws with no repercussions, and talk trash about their wives, or husbands?
Where is that grey area?
People talk about “bad cops,” of which there are a few, all of whom have made the news in the past decade. Or longer if you want to go back to the Rodney King beating in 1991. Call it overkill on the part of the cops, but the city paid a heavy price.
In some tragic cases, a guy in custody has been killed because a cop is cutting off his ability to breathe. While in other cases, a cop has been killed simply because a felon held a serious grudge for anyone wearing a badge.
So where is that grey area?
Galindo’s SJ Knee
Last Friday, the knee-tothe- groin case involving former San Juan Police Sergeant Galindo, which dated back to December 2015, finally came to an end in Federal Judge Randy Crane’s McAllen courtroom.
After pleading guilty to a misdemeanor this past January in Crane’s court, the only thing left hanging on Galindo’s plate was his sentencing, which hit the docket last Friday. He was facing up to a year in prison, but got a year’s probation instead. He’s currently working in the service industry, far away from the world of policing.
After the knee-to-the-groin incident took place, Galindo was fired from the SJ PD, but won his job back through mediation.
In 2019, however, a federal grand jury indicted Galindo, claiming that the guy he kneed, Victor Manuel Aguirre, had his civil rights violated, bruised testicles notwithstanding.
Then Covid struck, delaying court proceedings, until late 2023 arrived, and Galindo decided to cut a plea deal with federal prosecutors. He would plead guilty to deprivation of rights under color of law (authority of the law) and would admit that he assaulted Aguirre by kneeing him in the groin.
He also showed remorse before Crane’s bench, which is always the way any defendant should appear.
I’ve seen defendants before in federal court approach the bench as if they’ve done nothing wrong, despite the overwhelming evidence against them, and it never turns out well.
In Galindo’s case, part of a bodycam recorded the knee action, so there was little to argue.
The Back Story
For those who missed the initial story, here’s the background: On Dec. 14th, 2015 at approximately 7:13 p.m., a San Juan police officer was dispatched to the 200 block of Camino Real Road in reference to a runaway female. The mother of the 17-year-old girl said her daughter could be located at a nearby apartment in the company of her 19-year-old boyfriend, Victor Manuel Aguirre.
According to the Probable Cause complaint, after the girl was located, she resisted attempts to return home and was subsequently handcuffed. While the officer was leading her out the front door, he was allegedly sucker- punched from behind by Aguirre, who allegedly clobbered the cop in the back of the head with a balledup fist and then, followed that up with a punch to the side of the officer’s face. The two reportedly got into a scuffle.
Aguirre allegedly tried to gain hold of the officer’s can of pepper spray and use it against him. Before the altercation could escalate any further, two back-up officers arrived on the scene and helped subdue him.
Meanwhile, Aguirre’s 17-year-old girlfriend, the alleged runaway, was reportedly showing her willingness to cooperate with police by biting one of the officers on his right bicep and on other assorted body parts, which were protected from further alleged dental attacks thanks to the bullet-resistant vest he was wearing..
Once outside, other SJ PD cars arrived on the scene, screeching to a stop outside the apartment complex. A police body cam shows Aguirre, in handcuffs, saying something to one of the officers on the scene, allegedly cussing them out, one of whom later turned out to be Sgt. “J.P.” Galindo, self-admittedly a no-nonsense, old-school street cop.
The video shows him grabbing hold of Aguirre by the shoulders, who was still in handcuffs, and then giving him a swift knee to the groin. Aguirre drops to the ground, screaming in pain. He was then processed, booked and transported to the county jail.
It was during his eight-day stay there that Victor Manuel Aguirre decided to invoke the services of a local attorney and filed a lawsuit, complaining of shoulder pains and chest pains when he coughed, even though during the booking process, he reportedly never complained of any injury.
Now, 27.5 years old, born July 26, 1996, Aguirre’s socalled rap sheet shows a list of subsequent run-ins with local law enforcement that would keep a lot of lawyers busy, most likely public defenders, working on the taxpayers’dime. This newspaper didn’t have the time to see how each charge was subsequently adjudicated, but here they are.
# Possession controlled substance – filed Jan. 27, 2016.
# Resisting arrest – filed June 1, 2016.
# Kidnapping and possession of a controlled substance – filed April 13, 2017.
# Assault causes bodily injury – filed April 21, 2017.
# Failure to identify..fugitive.. intent to give false, info – filed April 21, 2017.
# Possession of a controlled substance – filed April 21, 2017.
# Assault causes bodily harm – filed May 22, 2017.
# Assault causes bodily harm – filed Sept. 6, 2017.
# Possession of marijuana, less than 20 ounces – filed Feb. 27, 2018.
# Possession of a controlled substance, less than 20 ounces – filed April 26, 2018.
# Possession of a controlled substance, less than 1 gram – filed June 26, 2018.
# Possession of a controlled substance, less than 20 ounces – filed March 29, 2019.
# Possession of a controlled substance, less than 1 gram – filed Dec. 16, 2020.
# Resisting arrest – filed Dec. 16, 2020.
# Possession of marijuana, less than two ounces – filed Nov. 10, 2022.
# Possession of a controlled substance – filed July 25, 2023.
All told, over a span of approximately seven years, that equals 17 misdemeanors and three felony charges, not counting a fourth felony charge – burglary of a building – filed June 10, 2014, approximately a month before Victor Manuel Aguirre turned 18 on July 26, 1996.