The former captain of the Buenos Aires police Ruben Alberto Garciaone of the four defendants for the so-called “Massacre in Monte”, in which four boys died after a police pursuit of shots and a subsequent clash in May 2019, said this Tuesday, May 16, that when he found out the ages of the victims he should have hit himself “shot to the head”since it is “a lover of human rights” and not a murderer. This version was said at the hearing in which human rights defense organizations are private prosecutors or trial observers, such as the Provincial Commission for Memory (CPM) and the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS).
In addition, during his statement, the police officer recalled that it all started when he wanted to identify the Fiat 147 car in which the young people were traveling because he saw “a boy with a cap” and, seeing that he did not stop, He shot because he thought they were “going to shoot him”, but he clarified that he did it to the ground and that he never shot to hit.
“When I found out what happened, when they give the ages (of the deceased boys), I should have grabbed my gun and shot myself in the head. I asked myself many times what the hell I got into the police for”said García when declaring as defendant before the 12 members of the popular jury and the president of the Oral Criminal Court (TOC) IV of La Plata, Carolina Crispianiwho is the technical judge of the case and moderates the debate.
The former captain said he knew one of the victims, Daniel Samsonwhom he saw pass every day in front of his house: “The Sansone family is a working family. There was no evil, we did not know who was in the car, but we had to stop. I am not a murderer. I am in love with human rights. I did not do it willingly. If this boy Aníbal (Suárez ( 22), the driver of the car would have braked, I swear I didn’t even take the car away from him. I don’t know if they ever tried to charge him a bribe or what. I didn’t know him. I have nothing to hide.”.
“Leandro Ecilapé (another of the accused policemen) shows me a kid in a white cap who was driving a Fiat 147 who did not greet the patrol car. We decided to identify him, but he kept walking” García said when he began his presentation after 11:00 a.m. at the judicial headquarters located on Calle 8, between 56 and 57, where he is tried together with the officials Leonardo Daniel Ecilapé, Manuel Monreal y Mariano Ibanezfor the murders of Sansone (13), Gonzalo Domínguez (14), Suárez (22) and Camila López (13)and the serious injuries suffered by Rocio Quagliariello (17), the only survivor, then 13 years old.
In the eyes of the relatives of the victims, García contextualized the fact by saying that he “they demanded to identify people every night” and that San Miguel del Monte “it was not a quiet town as they say”.
“We couldn’t stand at a service station because they took a photo of us saying we weren’t doing anything. They lowered our order and I follow orders, I always followed the boss’s instructions. The Montemar and Los Pinos neighborhoods had many acts of insecurity”described the former captain, holding his black-framed glasses with his right hand, as he continued: “I never had anything strange in my history, I have no history of anything”.
On the night of May 19, 2019, the former police officer pointed out that the police station in the Buenos Aires town received a call from a neighbor alerting them to barking dogs, after which García said that he went to the place with a mobile handled by the officer. Ecilapé. “We met with the lady, she told us what had happened. It was something routine. We made 200 meters of lagoon, we grabbed Costanera and we went to the urban area. We came straight ahead and Ecilapé pointed out to me a kid with a white cap who was driving a Fiat 147 and that he had not greeted the patrol car. That is rare in a town. So, we decided to identify him.”said García, who said he had been a police officer since 1990.
After that, he said that they turned “and you” with the patrol car and began to follow the vehicle, which headed towards an internal street.
“We turned on the siren and he left. We came across the patrol car in which officers Ibañez and Monreal were coming. They support us and lock the car. We continue along the collector. When they see the guard in front, the Fiat 147 stops he throws it on top of him. He was going quite fast. He steers it, I hear flashes. One, two. The car goes, goes, goes. I thought they had shot the guard. I thought they put him in”he commented with a fixed look towards the 12 jurors.
Next, García stated that he saw the passenger door of the Fiat 147 opening, for which he thought that “they were going to shoot” and took out his service weapon.
“Once we see that the vehicle did not stop, we ask for support. You never have to trust anything. You always have to be careful. I fire shots at the ground to make it stop. Pum, pum, pum. Then I hear a noise and dust, dust, dust”he said in reference to the subsequent impact of the car in which the victims were traveling against the trailer of a truck.
After that, Garcia continued: “I want to mention that I never shot to hit. I was never in an oral trial. We never wanted to kill anyone. I did not want to kill anyone”.
For this day, it is expected that the accused Ecilapé will also testify, after which the closing arguments will begin, which will be transmitted through the channel of Youtube of the Buenos Aires Supreme Court.
The first to plead will be the prosecutor Mariano Sibuet and then the private accusations will follow: the lawyer Dora Bernardez representative of the Domínguez and Suárez families; Daisy Jarque, from the CPM, sponsor of the Sansone and López families; the lawyer Ricardo Minoli to the Quagliarello family; and finally CELS represented by the lawyers Barbara Juarez y Agustina Lloret.
Finally, the lawyers will close the arguments Marcelo DiSiervilegal representative of Ecilapé, and Guillermó Baquédefender of Monreal, Ibañez and García
The so-called “Massacre in Monte” occurred at dawn on May 20, 2019, when members of the local police station chased a Fiat 147 along the highway 3 collector in which four adolescents were traveling, three 13-year-olds and one of 14, together with a young man of 22.
The five boys were listening to music when the officers began to chase them for no reason and, according to the records of the municipality’s security cameras, to shoot them, which caused the car to crash into the trailer of a truck that was stopped on the road. and four of the five occupants died instantly.
