According to officials, the BCSO deputy was arrested for assaulting his spouse for the second time

SAINT ANTHONY – A deputy from the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office accused of assaulting his spouse earlier this year has been arrested again on another charge of assault, according to Sheriff Javier Salazar.

John Paul Garza, 31, has been charged with continued violence against a family member and violation of a protection order following the Sunday night incident, Salazar said. Both charges are third-degree felonies involving bail of $ 10,000 each, according to reservation records.

During a press conference Monday morning, Salazar said Garza assaulted the woman by throwing her to the ground and punching her in the face, causing the woman’s clothes to be “soiled with blood.”

Garza took off his clothes to try to cover up evidence, Salazar said, and the woman, who was partially dressed, ran to a neighbor’s house for help.

“It’s very disturbing frankly,” he said.

Garza left the post before deputies arrived, the sheriff said. Authorities found Garza elsewhere hours later, and records from the reserve show he was arrested at 2 a.m. Monday.

The patrol deputy was off duty at the time of the assault, according to authorities, and was already in the process of being terminated due to an incident involving the same victim in February.

On February 6, Garza was arrested on charges of assault for bodily injury, married after assaulting his spouse. By the time officers arrived at the North Bexar County site the night before, Heron had already fled, BCSO said.

He was later located and arrested, and BCSO announced that he would be on administrative leave.

“This assault for the second time was much more violent than the first,” Salazar said Monday.

Garza has not held any office as an assistant since February and is on unpaid administrative leave.

Salazar said Garza’s internal file included a violent interaction with an inmate in 2013 that Garza instigated and then lied about a polygraph.

He was hired by the office in July 2012.

This is breaking news. It will be updated as more information becomes available.