City denies allegations made in Biden bus lawsuit

The City of San Marcos recently denied allegations made in an amended lawsuit regarding a Biden campaign bus incident that occurred over a year ago.

The lawsuit originally named City of San Marcos Director of Public Safety Chase Stapp and the city as defendants. An amended lawsuit filed on Oct. 29 added San Marcos Police Department Assistant Chief of Operations Brandon Winkenwerder and Cpl. Matthew Daenzer to the complaint.

Former State Sen. Wendy Davis, a Biden campaign volunteer, campaign staffer and a bus driver, claim in the complaint that Stapp and the San Marcos Police Department failed to provide them protection as the Biden-Harris bus drove through San Marcos on Interstate 35.

The lawsuit claims the defendants violated the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 by failing to “take reasonable steps to protect Plaintiffs from an unlawful civil rights conspiracy and/or refused to send a police escort to aid the bus, despite being asked to provide one.”

“The city denies the allegations contained within the lawsuit,” the statement on behalf of City Manager Bert Lumbreras read. “Because of the pending litigation, we cannot comment publicly and must wait for our account to be heard in court.”

In the final days of the 2020 presidential campaign, the Biden-Harris campaign planned multiple stops across Texas, including an event at Texas State University.

On Oct. 30, 2020, a campaign bus traveled from San Antonio up I-35, and was surrounded and followed by supporters of former President Donald Trump who formed a self-labeled “Trump Train,” the lawsuit states.

The complaint alleges that SMPD failed to provide an escort for the bus on multiple occasions. In an exchange with a 911 dispatcher, Daenzer said they were not going to escort the bus. “We will close patrol that, but we’re not going to escort a bus,” he told the dispatcher.

The campaign bus entered San Marcos city limits around 3:26 p.m. The complaint claims the situation escalated on I-35 in San Marcos between 3:26-3:30 p.m. The plaintiffs ultimately chose to cancel the event at Texas State.

Following the incident, the complaint alleges that SMPD officers “poked fun at the attack,” providing documentation of text message exchanges. In one, an unidentified officer referred to those on the bus as a derogatory slang term for someone mentally disabled.

The day after the incident, Stapp messaged several officers regarding the incident, saying, “from what I can gather, the Biden bus never even exited I-35 thanks to the Trump train.”

Officers, however, later labeled the incident as a “debacle,” realizing what occurred in San Marcos could “lead to political and legal consequences,” the lawsuit claims. Additionally, in emails officers braced themselves for a “political firestorm,” the lawsuit alleges.

The city’s statement said it is taking action regard ing insensitive comments made by employees.

“In the process of preparing documents to turn over to the plaintiffs in this case as part of the discovery process in late October 2021, we have learned of some insensitive comments made between employees,” the city's statement read. “These are not in keeping with the values of our organization, so San Marcos Police Chief Stan Standridge is addressing those comments according to normal disciplinary procedures.”

ncastillo

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