Aransas Pass police: warrant issued for man seen on video assaulting girlfriend
MONICA LOPEZ, ALEXANDRIA RODRIGUEZ | CORPUS CHRISTI CALLER TIMES
Updated 6:27 a.m. AEST July 16, 2019
Aransas Pass police are searching for a man accused of punching his girlfriend.
The assault was recorded in a home surveillance video that was later posted on social media.
A screenshot of a Ring video shows a man approaching an apartment in Aransas Pass. Police said the man is accused of assaulting his girlfriend ?
Police took to Facebook on Sunday to share a link to the video and identified the suspect, who is seen hitting a woman in front of a neighbor's house, as Jacob Lawler, 23.
Capt. Kyle Rhodes said police have issued a warrant for the man who will face charges of assault with bodily injury.
"We're looking for him," Rhodes said. "It's straight up assault. ... In the video, you can see he's punching her. ... It's a pretty violent assault."
A public link of the video was later removed after it was posted, police said in the Facebook post. But the video had already made its rounds on social media.
The date stamped on the video is July 10. The Caller-Times is not posting the video to protect the identity of the woman.
In the video, a woman is seen knocking on a door at an apartment complex. A shirtless man is seen walking up the stairs toward the woman, who moves toward a balcony and holds on to the rail.
The man is seen grabbing the woman from behind and strikes her multiple times in the head as he pulls her hair. The woman continues to hold onto the rail as the man tries to pull her away.
He then picks up the woman by her leg as her torso begins to hang over the side of the railing. He talks to the woman and then puts her down.
A screenshot of a Ring video shows a man assaulting a woman outside an apartment in Aransas Pass.
The neighbor whose security camera captured the incident uploaded another video with the rest of the alleged assault. In the video, the woman can be heard pleading with the man.
She is heard saying "Please, please!" as the man holds her by the back of her arms and leads her down the stairs nearby.
Rhodes said the woman and suspect were living together in an apartment below where the alleged assault was recorded.
The neighbor uploaded another video date-marked July 12. In that video the man police identified as Lawler is seen walking up the stairs and touching the camera before knocking on the door.
He stays by the door and waits a few seconds before saying "I know you're in there."
He then begins to count backward from five before he appears to tamper with the camera. After nearly two minutes, he leaves the area, the video shows.
As of Monday afternoon, no arrests had been made and the video was taken down by the owner.
The police department updated the post with photos of Lawler on Sunday to say Lawler has an identical twin brother.
"Law enforcement has access to information that will help us differentiate between the two," the post reads.
The post warns the public against apprehending a wanted criminal.
"In doing so, you expose yourself to unnecessary risk," the post reads. "Instead, observe and record useful information while calling 911 to report the situation."
Anyone with information about the incident should call Tri-County Crimestoppers at 758-8477 or 800-245-8477.
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