Man swings machete at taco truck employee: affidavit

AUSTIN, Texas - A man is facing a felony charge for allegedly swinging a machete at a taco truck employee in South Austin over the weekend.

What we know:

29-year-old Jose Ruben Estrada has been charged with second-degree felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and disorderly conduct-display of a deadly weapon, a Class B misdemeanor.

The charges stem from an April 5 incident at the Sabrosura Ramos taco truck at 2005 E. Oltorf Street, between Burton Drive and Willow Creek Drive. An arrest affidavit says that just after 7 p.m., APD responded to a check welfare urgent call at that address in reference to a Hispanic man wearing a black jacket and black pants swinging a machete.

As officers were responding, the call text was updated to say the man was running around the parking lot and that someone had taken the machete away, then again to say that he was at the bus stop.

Officers detained the man, later identified by police as Estrada, at the bus stop. Officers then spoke with multiple witnesses standing around the taco truck, and were directed to a trashcan to the side of the truck where officers found the machete. 

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The witness who hid the machete in the trashcan told police that he had been heading to the truck to buy food when he heard loud banging. When he came around the corner, he said he saw Estrada near the front of the food truck with a machete.

An employee then asked the witness and another man to get Estrada away from the truck, and the other man pulled Estrada away while the witness grabbed and hid the machete.

Detectives spoke with the taco truck employee, who told them that she saw Estrada arrive on a scooter and sit at a table a few feet away, then pull out a machete and swing it at the table and his own scooter. She also reported seeing him throw up on the table and ground.

The employee, who was inside the truck at the order window, said Estrada then started to walk towards her and raised the machete up over his head. She said that Estrada then swung it down at her, but instead of hitting her, he hit the small counter attached to the window.

Two more witnesses told police what they had seen, including a bystander scared enough by Estrada to retreat back to his vehicle and that Estrada was about five inches away from hitting the employee with the machete.

What's next:

Estrada is currently in the Travis County jail on a collective $23,000 bond as of April 7. He has also been ordered to have an alcohol assessment with Travis County's Counseling and Education Services.