SAN ANGELO, TX — According to Tom Green County jail logs, the man who fell or jumped from the Houston Harte Expressway overpass this morning, Edward Vigil, 52, of San Angelo, was released from jail this morning.
He was booked earlier this morning on a public intoxication charge, jail records indicate. He was released later this morning on a personal recognizance bond.
Vigil had a long history of run-ins with the local law, dating back to the 1990s. He served at least three years in prison in the late 1990s for his third DWI conviction in Tom Green County. More recently, he has been arrested at least nine times for public intoxication since 2015.
Known as “Pico” to his family, his cousin Terry Duarte wrote on our Facebook wall that he served in the U.S. Navy during Desert Storm in 1991. Upon return, according to his criminal record, he was arrested for DWI in November 1991, the year he came home. “After the war, he didn’t come back the same,” Duarte wrote on Facebook.
Above: Edward Vigil enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served in Desert Storm, according to a member of his family, Moses Duarte. (Contributed via Facebook)
Lt. Christina Lopez, spokeswoman for the Sheriff who runs the jail, said he was arrested last night for public intoxication by the San Angelo Police Department and eventually booked into the Tom Green County Jail at 12:25 a.m. He was released at 7:43 a.m., shortly before his falling death this morning just before 9 a.m., at 8-9 hours after he was found drunk. Lopez said the jail has very strict guidelines to not release inmates who are impaired.
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I don't understand why his criminal history was brought up and at that a whole article. I could understand digging up dirt if he had murdered someone but that's not the case. I assumed news was about facts not assumptions. I'm not sure why it is stated either he jumped or fell until it is made official. I have always liked San angelo live especially with everything that took place with my brother but this article was ridiculous and unnecessary.
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PermalinkI think the author is providing relevant information. It is odd that he was released from the jail right before he died, and it saves many from looking up his history online, which they would have done. I also think it is relevant to the story that he went to war and came back what looks like traumatized. I wonder if the jail does some sort of screening for suicidal thoughts once a person sobers up. I don't blame the jail, but was just wondering.
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PermalinkIt is no ones business that he was in jail. It has nothing to do with anything. The man has past away-- why are you trying to make him look bad to everyone. What his poor family and friends have to go thru with the passing, but for the press to put this story here is crazy.
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PermalinkKeep up the good work laying out the facts. No digging up dirt, the background info is a matter of public record.
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PermalinkHis record is public information so they were not wrong for putting it. It might help to figure out what happened and how it could be kept from happening in the future. They are not trying to make anyone look bad, they are trying to help prevent it from happening again possibly.
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PermalinkInquiring minds want to know; even though it is none of their business.
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