Eric Collazo (Bexar County Sheriff’s Office)
A man in Texas is accused of beating up and hospitalizing his elderly neighbor, allegedly using his own house key to mistakenly unlock and enter the home of the older man, whom he mistook for an intruder and attacked.
Eric Collazo was taken into custody on Monday and charged with one count of injury to an elderly person causing bodily harm, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Deputies with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office at about 1:25 a.m. on March 25 responded to a call regarding a burglary in progress at a home in the 6000 block of Carriage Cape in San Antonio, Texas, according to an incident report obtained by The News Tribune. Upon arriving, however, deputies said they quickly realized that the home invasion appeared to be the result of an unlikely accident.
Deputies noted that the front door of the victim’s home had not been damaged in any way.
Deputies entered the home and found the victim — who is reportedly 79 or 80 years old — and said that he was limping, his clothing was torn, and food from a local Tex-Mex restaurant covered him and the floor of the apartment.
The victim told authorities that he was in the bathroom when he heard a knock on his door and then a tall man dressed in black — later identified as Collazo — entered the home and attacked him, pushing the victim into his bathtub and repeatedly striking him with a closed fist, San Antonio ABC affiliate KSAT reported.
The victim was transported to the hospital for treatment of his wounds, which reportedly included three broken ribs.
A cellphone that did not belong to the victim was reportedly recovered from inside of the victim’s bathroom, which investigators said belonged to Collazo, whom was located at the home of a neighboring home. He was attempting to get into a parked car, per KSAT.
In an interview with deputies, Collazo allegedly said that he believed he was entering his own home — even using his own key to unlock the front door — and thought the victim was a home invader, so he attacked the man.
“I don’t play around,” Collazo reportedly told authorities.
Additionally, deputies noted that Collazo emanated a “strong smell of alcoholic beverages” during the interview, per the Tribune.
Deputies checking on Collazo’s story took his key and tried to use it in the victim’s front door. To their surprise, the key reportedly worked.
“Upon deputies checking the suspect’s key to verify if in fact could open the victim’s door, the key in fact worked to open the door,” Johnny Garcia, a public information officer for BCSO, told KSAT. “It is unknown as to how the key works at the victim’s residence, however, investigators believe the issue may be related to the builder of the residences.”
M/I Homes, the company that reportedly built both homes, told KSAT they would look into the issue of one key working in two homes and get back to the station at a later date.
Collazo was booked into the Bexar County Jail and released on Thursday after posting bond of $10,000 and being ordered to have not contact with the victim. He is currently scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on May 1, 2024.
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