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Left to right: James Michael Cox, James Brennand (Bexar County Jail).
A driver is charged is with trying to run over another man outside a Texas courthouse — and the victim has been facing a serious charge of his own.
San Antonio police did not relay a motive, according to CBS affiliate KENS, but the location carries somber baggage for the alleged victim, fired cop James Brennand — he was at the courthouse because he is charged with shooting a teenager who was eating a hamburger in 2022. As Law&Crime previously reported, Brennand lost his job over the case.
Authorities did say that James Michael Cox, 58, on March 26 confronted Brennand in the parking lot.
“I’m James Michael Cox,” he allegedly said during the confrontation before fleeing the scene.
Authorities charged him with assault with a deadly weapon in Bexar County, and he was later arrested in nearby Medina County, charged there with evading arrest with a motor vehicle and resisting arrest, according to ABC affiliate KSAT. The warrant had reportedly been issued April 1.
Authorities say that Brennand in 2022 shot and injured Erik Cantu, then 17 years old, who was eating in the driver’s seat of a vehicle. The officer had been at the restaurant on an unrelated disturbance, but claimed that Cantu’s vehicle had evaded him in an attempted traffic stop earlier that day regarding the license plate failing to match the vehicle, according to KSAT.
“Get out of the car,” he told him, according to body camera video. Cantu put the vehicle in reverse. Brennand, standing at the inside of the open driver-side door, apparently reached into the vehicle during the chaos, pulled out his gun, and opened fire.
Records show a status conference in his case is set for May 30.