Driver in fatal El Paso police crash is ex-con

March 22--An ex-convict previously accused of belonging to the Barrio Azteca prison gang has been identified as the driver in a crash that killed an El Paso police motorcycle officer earlier this month.

John Paul Perry, 45, has not been charged in connection with the March 10 collision that killed Officer David Ortiz, who was stopped at a red light when he was hit from behind by a car at Lee Trevino and Vista Del Sol drives, police officials said.

Ortiz died at a hospital on March 14 and was laid to rest Friday in a funeral service attended by hundreds of law enforcement officers, and that had students lined up outside Lower Valley schools in a show of community support.

A police spokesman said on Monday that the case is still under investigation and that Perry has not been charged.

A Kia Optima driven by Perry burst into flames when it struck the motorcycle in a chain-reaction that hit two other vehicles in front of the motorcycle, police officials had said. Perry and two women in a car in front of the officer were hospitalized after being injured in the collision.

After being released from the hospital, Perry was arrested on March 12 on traffic warrants unrelated to the fatal crash, a police spokesman said

According to El Paso County Jail records, Perry was released from jail a day after being booked with time served. The warrants were from 2013 for traffic tickets, such as having an expired or no driver's license, no insurance and expired inspection stickers.

El Paso County court and jail records show that Perry has a criminal record and was accused of being a member of the Barrio Azteca gang in an indictment on an aggravated assault case in 2013.

On March 31, 2013, Perry was among a group of men accused of beating a man outside a home on Marie Tobin Drive in Northeast El Paso, according to El Paso Times archives and court records. The man was punched, kicked, hit with a baseball bat, stabbed twice and had his hand broken.

In August 2014, Perry pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to two years in state prison, court records stated.

One of the men arrested along with Perry in the 2013 assault was Richard Rene "Cricket" Espino, 35, who last month was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on a racketeering conspiracy charge in a Barrio Azteca gang case. Espino was one of 17 Barrio Azteca gang members and associates convicted in the El Paso police and FBI racketeering investigation.

The Barrio Azteca, which runs on military-style ranks, is one of the largest gangs in the El Paso-Juárez region and has been allied with the Juárez drug cartel, law enforcement officials have said.

Court records show that Perry also has convictions for assault, robbery, evading arrest and aggravated assault against a public servant, which was in 1988 when Perry was about 18 years old.

The El Paso district attorney's office, according to a spokeswoman, has yet to receive the Ortiz case because it is still under investigation.

Last year, no criminal charges were filed against a driver in connection with the death of El Paso police motorcycle Officer Adrian Arellano, who was struck by a car while working off-duty escorting a funeral procession on March 18, 2015.

Police had said that Arellano, who was using his lights and siren, was hit from the side by a Honda Civic driven by Maria Soto, 55, of Santa Teresa, at Yarbrough Drive and Edgemere Boulevard.

Police had said that Soto had the green light, but that she allegedly disregarded another motorcycle officer who was stopping traffic on Edgemere as Arellano and the funeral procession headed north on Yarbrough.

"After further review, prosecutors agreed and determined that the events leading up to the accident did not rise to the level of criminal negligence that could justify an indictment," district attorney's office spokeswoman Claudia Duran said in an email Monday.

Information was not immediately available on whether Soto received a traffic citation in connection with the accident that killed Arellano.

Daniel Borunda may be reached at 546-6102; [email protected]; @BorundaDaniel on Twitter.

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