A routine speeding stop near South Park Mall turned into a month-long suspension for a San Antonio police officer after investigators ruled he crossed the line on use of force.
Internal records show that Officer Domonic G. Muro was hit with a 30-day suspension for using unnecessary force when he pulled a driver out of a vehicle during a July traffic stop. The driver later reported soreness for a day or two and showed light bruising, and the encounter, captured on body-worn camera, ended up in city discipline files. The suspension was served in November.
City documents list Muro’s suspension from Nov. 10 to Dec. 9, according to KABB. The records state the stop happened on July 2, 2025, after Muro saw a vehicle speeding along I-35 near South Park Mall. The driver was handcuffed during the encounter, cited, and ultimately released at the scene.
What investigators say happened
According to investigative records reviewed by reporters, things escalated when Muro began arguing with the driver while discussing a rear-end defect on the vehicle, KSAT reported. Muro ordered the driver out of the car, but when the exterior handle would not open, he reached through an open window, grabbed the driver’s left wrist and pulled the arm through the window, pinning it against the rear driver’s side door. The man’s face was pressed against the door during the maneuver.
The driver told the officer to “chill” several times and said the physical contact was unnecessary, according to the records. Investigators later concluded that the way Muro used his hands on the driver met the department’s definition of unnecessary force.
Video and photos
Body-worn camera video captured black transfer on the driver’s arm from the vehicle’s weather stripping, and photos provided to internal affairs appeared to show light bruising on the left arm, according to KABB. The driver told investigators his arm was sore for one or two days after the stop, and the records note he left the scene with a citation rather than an arrest.
Those images and the body-camera footage became key pieces of evidence in the internal review that ended with Muro’s 30-day suspension.
Policy and internal review
Investigators also flagged that Muro did not document his use of “open/empty hands control techniques,” a requirement spelled out in the department’s paperwork, according to disciplinary records reviewed by KSAT. San Antonio Police Department policy calls for officers to record force incidents on a Use of Force Report (SAPD Form 62-UOF) and to spell out open or empty-hand controls and related details in Blue Team entries and officer reports.
San Antonio Police Department Procedure 501 outlines how those reports are supposed to be filed and how supervisors review them.
Why it matters
The case is a reminder that internal discipline can follow a traffic stop even when no criminal charges result, and it underscores how much weight the department places on documenting exactly what kind of physical control officers use. City discipline records show that in this incident, the department chose administrative punishment while continuing to rely on its use-of-force policies as the framework for review, training and corrective action.
