An 18-year-old man previously wounded by police gunfire has found himself in handcuffs once more, marking his third arrest since the incident that left him hospitalized in 2022. Erik Cantu Jr. was taken into custody on Saturday for allegedly evading arrest during a traffic stop, as reported by KSAT. The charges against Cantu include evading arrest with a motor vehicle and fleeing the scene of an accident with damage estimated at over $200.
The incident unfolded on Dec. 9, when a Universal City police officer's radar clocked Cantu driving a white BMW at a speed of 50 mph in an area with a posted limit of 35 mph, leading to an attempted traffic stop. According to the authorities, the young man continued down Kitty Hawk Road for an extensive distance before congested traffic halted his progress. Police detailed how Cantu's attempts to elude capture included driving on the shoulder and changing lanes recklessly without signaling. In the midst of his fugitive flight, his vehicle collided with a Lexus SUV, yet he did not stop, as per Fox San Antonio.
The chase ended in a shopping center parking lot where Cantu was compelled to comply at gunpoint with an officer's demands to exit his vehicle. After being handcuffed, Cantu revealed the reason he did not pull over sooner, telling the officers he didn’t think the pursuing officer was "a real cop," as KSAT noted. He also expressed his belief that he was being targeted by friends of the officer who had shot him last year, in addition to the officer involved in the current chase.
Cantu's history with law enforcement is marred by the event in 2022 when he was shot in a McDonald's parking lot by former San Antonio Police officer James Brennand. Brennand, who suspected Cantu's vehicle was stolen, has since been fired and charged with aggravated assault after shooting Cantu as the teen reversed his car in an attempt to drive away. Since then, Cantu has been arrested on separate charges, including theft and evading arrest, before his most recent run-in with law enforcement, as detailed by Fox San Antonio.
