A Texas Department of Public Safety probable cause affidavit detailed a 33-year-old man was arrested after he attempted to use a fraudulent passport card, abandoned his 11-year-old stepson while evading law enforcement and pushed a nurse after receiving medical treatment.
Elpidio Alejandro Rodriguez Venegas was charged with evading arrest or detention with a vehicle, a third-degree felony, abandoning or endangering a child, a third-degree felony, escape while arrested, a third-degree felony, assaulting EMS personnel, a third-degree felony, fraudulent use or possession of identifying information, a state jail felony.
Venegas was also charged with evading arrest or detention, a class A misdemeanor, reckless driving, a class B misdemeanor, and accident involving damage to vehicle, a class B misdemeanor. He also had three counts of failure to appear for two aggravated assault charges, a second-degree felony, and assault, a class A misdemeanor.
The incident happened Jan. 17 when troopers were traveling west on Farm-to-Market Road 2020 when a Chevrolet pickup was traveling east with a defective headlamp, the affidavit stated.
Troopers say they turned around and saw the pickup had an expired license plate, Dec. 2021, as well as no license plate light.
Troopers asked the driver, Venegas, to step out and walk to the rear of the vehicle, the affidavit stated. Troopers also saw a front right passenger to be a 12-year-old boy.
Venegas handed troopers a US Passport Card, which identified him as 24-year-old Julio Burciada. Troopers say the picture on the passport card looked nothing like him. Troopers asked Venegas how old he was and he stated he was 27. That didn’t match the birth year on the card.
Troopers told Venegas that he was going to be detained. When they tried to get his hands under control to place him in handcuffs he slipped away and got back into the driver’s seat of his vehicle and began evading. The vehicle wrecked into a concrete fence on the southside property of JM Transmissions located at 2675 Kermit Highway.
The driver fled the scene leaving the 12-year-old boy alone, the affidavit stated. The 12-year-old boy identified the driver as his stepdad.
Troopers say that Odessa Police Department officers were able to subdue Venegas a short distance away from the collision site.
Venegas requested hospital treatment so he was transported to Medical Center Hospital to be medically cleared, the affidavit stated. While the nurse, identified as Cidnie Wall, was about to have Venegas discharged and released, Venegas stood up from his medical bed and shoved Wall out of the way to escape. Troopers used their TASER to bring Venegas to the ground where he was brought back into custody.
Troopers transported Venegas to the Ector County Law Enforcement Center where he was booked in and released to jail staff without incident. Venegas was booked into jail on Jan. 18, jail records show. He has nine bonds totaling $35,000 and he was still in custody as of Wednesday morning. Venegas’ two failure to appear counts for the two aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charges are being held without bond.
