Execution Report: Daniel Lopez

Daniel Lee Lopez, 27, was executed by lethal injection on 12 August 2015 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of a police officer while evading arrest.

On 11 March 2009, Lopez, then 21, was driving at night in Corpus Christi with his girlfriend, Melanie Saldana, 16, and his ex-girlfriend, Ashley Martinez, in Lopez' Ford Expedition. Corpus Christi police officer Stephen Cox observed Lopez fail to stop for a stop sign shortly before midnight. Cox activated the overhead lights on his patrol car and followed Lopez. When Cox caught up to him, Lopez had already parked in front of a house on Angela Street, where he lived, and all three occupants had exited the vehicle. Lopez was standing outside his sport utility vehicle and was attending to something inside it. He turned once to look at Cox and then resumed what he was doing. When Cox ordered Lopez to come to him, he began to back away. Thinking that Lopez might be planning to flee, Cox grabbed him by his shirt. According to Cox, Lopez began arguing with him and punched him more than once. The officer attempted to use both a Taser and pepper spray to subdue the suspect, but Lopez managed to avoid contact with either one. He also knocked Cox's radio from his hand when he attempted to call for backup. He then ran back to his vehicle and drove away.

Cox began pursuing Lopez in his vehicle. Lopez made several attempts to ram Cox and other officers who joined the pursuit, forcing them to drive onto the curbs and sidewalks in the neighborhood to avoid being struck. Rather than attempting to flee the area, he stayed for a while and continued to attempt to crash into the police vehicles by reversing into them or making U-turns and ramming them headfirst.

Eventually, Lopez exited the neighborhood and began driving northward on Highway 358. He swerved around a set of "stop sticks" placed in his path by one officer. He drove further and encountered police Lieutenant Stuart Alexander, 47, who was deploying stop sticks at the exit to Agnes Street. According to officer Rene Cruz, who had joined the pursuit, Alexander was standing in a grassy area beside the road, and Lopez swerved into him. Lopez struck him with the front right corner of his SUV, sending him flying through the air. The victim landed approximately 175 feet from the point of impact. Cox testified that after Lopez struck Alexander, he corrected his course back onto the freeway and continued driving north.

Lopez exited Highway 358 on Leopard Street. At this point, his right front tire was "completely shredded off," according to officers. He avoided another set of stop sticks and attempted to enter a freeway by driving the wrong way up an exit ramp, but he had to return to the access road because another vehicle was exiting the freeway. The officers then executed a "precision immobilization technique," or PIT maneuver, by bumping one corner of Lopez' vehicle and causing it to spin out of control. Officers then boxed Lopez in from all angles. Lopez continued ramming the cars that had surrounded him. Officers Israel Carrazco and Pete Muniz drew their weapons and shot Lopez until he was pacified. He sustained gunshot wounds to his left arm, neck, and upper chest.

Lieutenant Alexander had a weak pulse and extensive injuries when officers came to him. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

While Lopez was being taken for medical treatment, he told a member of the Nueces County Sheriff's Department that he had some cocaine hidden in the center console of his Expedition. He explained that he "sold drugs just to make ends meet." Officers found twelve packets of crack cocaine and a small scale inside the console.

Lopez' brother, Jose Lopez, testified that Daniel believed at the time of the incident that there was a warrant out for his arrest because he was on probation for indecency with a child and he had not been complying with the terms of his probation. Daniel told Jose that he would do everything in his power to resist going to jail. Jose also testified that Daniel had practiced evasive driving maneuvers.

While Lopez was evading officers on Angela Street in his neighborhood, he passed by Jose and told him, "I don't know what to do, Joey. I'm not going down like this."

While Lopez was in jail awaiting trial, he wrote a letter to Delfina Vela, the mother of Jessica Vela, one of his former girlfriends. He explained that he did what he did because he was "already running from [his] P.O." and he had drugs and a gun in his car. He wrote that he threw the gun out of his car during the police chase, but he was unable to throw out the drugs.

At his trial, the defense maintained that Lopez did not deliberately strike Lieutenant Alexander, claiming that the pepper spray Officer Cox used on him impaired his vision.

Lopez had an extensive history of juvenile offenses, including bringing drugs and weapons to school and hitting Jessica Vela in the face for talking to another boy. He also attacked a teacher in class.

Jessica Vela testified that she dated Lopez for four years beginning when they were both fifteen. He fathered two of her children. He choked her once when she was pregnant with their son and again when she was pregnant with their daughter because Vela told him she wanted to leave him. On another occasion, Lopez held Vela down on a bed, placed a nail at the tip of her ear, and threatened to push it in. He also had sex with her younger sister and showed up at one of her doctor's appointments when she was nine months pregnant with his new girlfriend, Ashley Martinez.

Martinez testified that Lopez hit her and pushed her five-year-old brother when she was pregnant with their daughter. He left the house when her sister-in-law called the police, then later told her mother that Ashley was "going to be sorry" if she pressed charges against him. Martinez obtained a protective order against Lopez, but resumed her relationship with him two years later and had another child with him.

Ramona Vega testified that she began dating Lopez in 2006 and had a child with him. He once pushed her against a wall and slapped her. While they were dating and he was twenty years old, she "walked in on" him having sex with her fifteen-year-old sister. Lopez was charged with indecency with a child and was given deferred adjudication probation.

Lopez' probation officer testified that although Lopez had not complied with the terms of his probation, she had not asked for an arrest warrant to be issued.

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