Family raises questions as Texas man dies days after being injured in police car
A Graham man died Thursday, several days after police say he wrapped a patrol vehicle seatbelt around his neck while in handcuffs and became unresponsive in the backseat.
Eric Montano’s family has raised numerous questions about the June 3 incident which left the 35-year-old man on life support for several days at a Wichita Falls hospital until he died Thursday.
“How did he manage to do that with handcuffs?” Rob Montano said Thursday as he drove from Houston to the Wichita Falls hospital. “How was he left unattended for so long?”
Eric Montano’s wife and his sister were scheduled to view police videos of the incident Thursday afternoon in Graham, Rob Montano said.
On Thursday night, Eric Montano was scheduled to be disconnected from life support. His family said he died Thursday, according to a GoFundMe account.
Graham Police Chief Brent Bullock said in a released statement earlier this week that the Texas Rangers were investigating the incident, which was captured on patrol vehicles’ dashboard cameras and officers’ body cameras. Graham is about 90 miles northwest of Fort Worth.
An internal investigation also was underway, the police chief said.
Bullock declined to release the videos on Thursday to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
“Our Department will be seeking an opinion from the Texas Attorney General’s Office in reference to an open records request,” Bullock said in a Thursday email. “This incident is still under investigation.”
Body camera videos and patrol vehicle videos were downloaded the night of the incident and stored for safekeeping by Graham police, the police chief said.
In his statement, Bullock also provided this account of the incident:
Graham police were dispatched to a domestic dispute on June 3 in the 1300 block of Remington Street.
A man accused of assaulting a woman at the home drove away from the scene in a white pickup.
Graham officers were told by a woman that her estranged husband had assaulted her and forced his way into the home. Other witnesses corroborated the assault, according to police.
“That’s not true,” Rob Montano said. “They (Eric and wife) had been at a barbecue and returned home. He never broke into the home.”
Police said the man who left the home was later identified as Eric Montano.
Graham officers also were familiar with the man and his wife due to responding to multiple calls in the past, police said.
A few minutes later, Graham police located the white pickup and stopped it.
Eric Montano was arrested without incident and he was restrained with two sets of handcuffs because of his size, according to the police chief. He was put in the backseat of a patrol vehicle.
Bullock said the man did not exhibit any signs that he wanted to harm himself.
Two Graham officers who were gathering information at the home responded to the location of the traffic stop, and exchanged information with the other officers.
The police chief said it was no more than six minutes before they discovered Eric Montano unresponsive in the backseat. Immediately, the officers began cardiopulmonary resuscitation and called for medical help, he said.
“It appeared that he was able to wrap the backseat seatbelt around his neck,” Bullock said in his statement.
“He had only two to three beers,” his brother said. “He’s not irresponsible.”
Montano was taken to a Graham hospital and later moved to a Wichita Falls hospital.
“He is a loving father to three kids,” wrote Geraldine Sanchez, who established a GoFundMe account for the family of Eric Montano. “He really needs our prayers.”
As of Thursday, friends and family members had raised more than $1,400 for the family.
“I ask the people of our community, whom we strive to serve, know that we will continue to do our jobs with the highest degree of integrity and to the best of our ability,” the police chief said.
This story was originally published June 11, 2020 at 6:11 PM.
