SAN JOSE – A judge has ordered two Arizona men accused of a violent attack on a police vehicle following a carnival event near Santana Row to be released from jail to a South Bay treatment center while their cases are prosecuted.
Gabe Durbin, 26, and Tyler Durbin, 22, each Arizona residents, were arrested on June 19 and remanded to jail without bail following their arraignment on Monday. On Friday, Judge Hector Ramon reversed his decision and approved their transfer to a rehab facility, despite objections from the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.
Ramon also rejected the Durbin brothers' requests to permit them to return to Arizona, sharing Assistant District Attorney Timothy Moore's concerns that such a scenario would cut back the likelihood of them appearing in court.
As a part of the Durbins' release conditions, Ramon ordered them to undergo electronic monitoring and prohibited them from searching for details about sideshows.
The judge's decision was based partly on arguments by Assistant Public Defender Heather Harris and Assistant Public Defender Patrick Geddes that the brothers had no history of violence and had already obtained approval for admission to a treatment facility in San Jose.
Harris emphasized Tyler Durbin's young age and described him as remorseful for his actions.
“Tyler was overwhelmed by the moment and made a number of poor decisions, but that is largely due to his young age,” she told the judge. “He has admitted his involvement and he has admitted he regrets the decision.”
In his motion to release the 2, Moore wrote that “the defendants were part of a group that attacked a San Jose police officer without provocation or justification and prevented the officer from reaching a civilian who had been beaten unconscious during a side event.”
In court on Friday, Moore argued that rehab was not the suitable thing for the defendant because Tyler Durbin had no less than provided no evidence of drug abuse.
“The treatment aspect of this placement is irrelevant to public safety. It's just about having a place to go so they don't end up in jail,” Moore said.
The defense and Moore also argued over the Durbins' ties to the realm. They lived for a time in Salinas and briefly in San Jose, with several moves to Arizona, where their mother lives, in between. They reportedly told authorities they were in the realm to filter out a storage unit in Salinas that their mother rented.
The brothers face aggravated charges of assault on a police officer, resisting arrest and vandalism, in addition to additional charges of resisting arrest, in reference to the altercation that occurred shortly before 7 p.m. on June 15 on Winchester Boulevard near Olin Avenue, on the western fringe of Santana Row.
According to police and an eyewitness video shared on social media, a reserve police officer was the primary to answer a report that a bystander had been struck and injured by the driving force of a Nissan sedan while he was doing doughnuts at a sideshow on the intersection.
As the officer drove about 100 feet from the crash scene, he was quickly surrounded by a crowd of individuals, some wearing ski masks over their faces. Several people began punching and kicking the officer's patrol automobile because it backed away from the group. In the video, a masked person could be seen jumping on the hood of the vehicle and stomping and kicking the windshield.
Moore's motion provides further details, citing a police investigation that alleges Gabe Durbin attempted to get into the driving force's side of a San Jose Police Department patrol automobile and Tyler Durbin punched the vehicle's windshield while an as-yet-unidentified masked man jumped onto the hood of the vehicle, stomped on it and kicked the windshield.
A subsequent investigation based on the released videos identified the Durbin brothers as participants and so they were later arrested in San Juan Bautista.
After his arrest, Tyler Durbin admitted to investigators that he was on the Santana Row Sideshow and hit the squad automobile “once or twice,” in response to prosecutors' bail request. Gabe Durbin reportedly denied being in San Jose, but admitted traveling to California together with his brother.
Police said investigators are continuing to look for other participants within the attack.
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