Galt Man Denies Using Son As Shield From Police

GALT (CBS13) — A Galt man is accused by police of using his 3-year-old son as a human shield when officers went to arrest him Sunday night on a warrant for driving under the influence, but he told CBS13 in a jailhouse interview Monday that he would never put his son in danger.

Galt Police officers went to the home of Bravlio Gonzalez, 23, on Moose Creek Way at about 6:25 p.m. Family members initially denied he was home, but after receiving consent to search the home, officers found Gonzalez hiding in the backyard.

Police say Gonzalez ran back into the house after seeing officers and then, after seeing a K-9 unit, grabbed his son and said they couldn't arrest him.

But Gonzalez denies that account. He told CBS13 that his son was frightened and reached out for him, and his natural instinct was to grab him.

"There's always two parts, there's their part and there's my part, and I don't know what part people are going to believe," he said from the Sacramento County jail. "I don't really care, because I know what I did. I would never put my child in front of them."

Officers were able to safely arrest Gonzalez and the take infant child into protective custody without causing injury. Gonzalez was subsequently booked on his warrant and fresh charges of resisting arrest and child endangerment. Two other family members, the boy's mother, Mirella Mendoza, and his uncle, Samuel Gonzalez, were also arrested for obstructing police and harboring a wanted person.

"I'm a full-time dad," Gonzalez said. "I would never use them as a shield."

But Gonzalez did admit to CBS13 that he was hiding from police. He said he planned to turn himself in a few days later. But now instead of a misdemeanor, he's facing felony charges and being held without bail.