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BROWNSVILLE — “You put my kids in danger.”
Speaking in Spanish, those are the words 20-year-old Katherine Darlene Martinez told her 18-year-old brother on the day he and his co-defendant lead police on a chase from South Padre Island across Cameron County that resulted in the fatal shooting of a San Benito police officer.
Rogelio Martinez, now 21, is accused of capital murder for the 2023 shooting of Lt. Milton Resendez, 54. He was arrested along with Rodrigo Axel Espinosa Valdez, 25, who has pleaded guilty to murder.
Martinez, who is facing the death penalty if he is convicted, is accused of firing two rounds at Resendez’s vehicle during the hours-long chase that resulted in the officer’s death.
One round pierced the truck’s door and entered Resendez’s body from beneath his bullet proof vest, San Benito police Chief Mario Perea said at a 2023 news conference.
Resendez, who was later pronounced dead at Valley Baptist Medical Center, is the first San Benito officer killed in the line of duty.
On Thursday, Martinez appeared in the 404th state District Court where his attorneys urged a motion to suppress evidence used to track the men using cellphone data before Resendez was shot and killed. State District Judge Ricardo M. Adobbati denied the motion after about two hours of testimony from three witnesses.
On Oct. 17, 2023, around 4:30 p.m. 18-year-old Rogelio Martinez was driving his red GMC Sierra fast when he was stopped by Cameron County Park Rangers on South Padre Island, according to previous reporting by MyRGV.com.
At the time, Martinez, Valdez, Katherine Martinez, her two small children and another woman were in the vehicle.
Martinez’s attorneys asked to play 14 minutes of bodycam footage from one of the witnesses, a crime scene investigator for the Texas Department of Public Safety. In the video, the witness asked Katherine Martinez to describe the initial police chase.
The interaction occurred around 7:05 p.m.
She stated that her brother “Roger” had invited her to go to the beach and eat. She noticed that he was speeding, “10 to 15 (miles) over” the speed limit.
He was in the driver’s seat and Valdez was in the passenger seat. Katherine claimed she did not know Valdez. She described him as the “skinny guy” and a “bad influence.”
Katherine, her baby and young toddler sat in the back, she said.
An officer stopped Rogelio. “They were kind of arguing,” she said. When the officer told Rogelio to step out of the vehicle, she continued that her brother said he was not going to get arrested and they drove away.
Katherine said she wanted to get out of the vehicle.
Rogelio pulled out a gun and started shooting at cops, she said, adding that she did not know that he had the gun and that she told him to stop shooting.
She was worried the crossfire would hit her and her kids or that the car would crash, she told the officer whose bodycam was recording.
At some point, Rogelio told Katherine to stand from her seat and he pulled out a second gun from under it. He was taking out guns and wasn’t answering her questions, she said.
“You should check the bridges cause my brother crosses,” Katherine told the investigator.
He asked her to call her brother and tell him that the police let her go and that she was at a friend’s house.
He answered the call. “I said the truth, that I don’t know where you are,” she said to him in Spanish.
The call ended shortly afterward.
Katherine said that she heard another friend in the background. The investigator added that he sounded like he was inside a building.
“I don’t know where he hangs out with Flaco (Valdez),” she said.
Rogelio called his sister back.
They shot at him first, he claimed.
After a back and forth where they asked about each other’s locations, he said: “You better not be talking to some cops.”
Rogelio said that if he wanted to kill them (police), he would have done so. He also said that if they knew that there were kids in the car, they would not have shot at them.
“What if they killed a kid,” she said.
He told Katherine that he would meet her at her house.
During the phone call, which Katherine had on speaker for the investigator to listen to, another officer opened the car door. It started beeping and Rogelio hung up the call.
“He’s not gonna want to talk to me again cause you guys opened the door,” she said.
During the video, she shared more background on Rogelio. She said that when he first got out of jail, he was staying at her house. She also noted that his dad is in jail, his mom lives in Matamoros and the rest of the family does not really talk to him because they see him as a “problem person.”
In the footage, the officers discussed that they would track Rogelio’s location.
Officials tracked Rogelio’s phone without a warrant due to emergency circumstances, as explained during Thursday’s hearing.
The hearing only discussed events before Resendez was killed.
In past reporting by MyRGV.com, court records and official statements described that after locating Martinez, they found him and Valdez in a black Ford Expedition at about 10:30 p.m. and a second pursuit began.
“The vehicle was pursued to San Benito where multiple officers reported that the front passenger of the vehicle was discharging a firearm again at officers in pursuit,” an affidavit stated.
Resendez spotted the truck in San Benito near Business 77 and Sam Houston Boulevard at 10:58 p.m.
Martinez fired two shots, one of which resulted in Resendez’s death.
The chase continued back to Brownsville with more gunfire exchanged until a trooper shot out the truck’s tires.
The men ran on foot and were arrested on International Boulevard.
A trial for Martinez’s case is currently scheduled for Aug. 10.