Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Club owner testifies he kneeled on patron to stop alleged weapon reach; video, radios and body-cam footage disputed
Summary
Mariano Rendon, owner and host at El Volcán, testified in a trial over an Aug. 20, 2023, brawl that he used a knee to stop a patron he said was reaching toward a security guard’s holster. Rendon said surveillance video is hazy, a security radio and baton went missing after the incident and GPS pings showed the radio later in Nixon, Texas.
Mariano Rendon, the owner and on-floor host at El Volcán, testified under oath that he put “1 knee on his stomach” to stop a patron from reaching toward a security guard’s holster during an altercation in the early morning hours of Aug. 20, 2023.
Rendon told jurors the club’s dance floor was crowded and dimly lit when he saw a pile of people attacking someone: “I saw, like, just a ball, and then people were getting away. So I knew there was something.” He said he ran into the group, pushed people off and then placed a knee on the man to prevent the man’s hands from getting close to the guard’s weapon: “His his hands were touching the holster.”
The state admitted into evidence a phone recording and a cell‑phone video that Rendon said show only the final portion of the altercation. Rendon described his own…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
