Pam Watts began fighting for change after her partner was killed by San Marcos police officer’s reckless driving.
Pam Watts had eight months with Jennifer Miller, whom she called her angel, until Miller was killed by an off-duty officer’s pickup
The car was so badly crushed that the first officers on the scene didn't realize there was a person seated on the passenger side. They began working on Watts; she begged them to help her partner. Firefighters arrived and began cutting through the compacted metal. They pulled Watts from the car. Ten minutes later, a rescue helicopter touched down. Firefighters worked for 15 more minutes to get to Miller. By then she was dead. The helicopter carried Watts to the hospital.
Pam Watts' attorney, Justin McMinn, believes that Hartman knew that if he delayed giving the blood sample his body would process whatever alcohol may have been in his system and the test would come out clean."He's a DWI cop and he's certified to administer all the tests. So he knew very clearly that by refusing it was going to take them probably three or four hours to be able to get a warrant to get his blood," McMinn said.
"My dad was an alcoholic, he died when he was 43, my mom taught Christian school," Watts said."And I knew, just in watching their marriage, that that wasn't a path I wanted to go down. I made up my mind very early that I wasn't going to be dependent on anybody to get me what I wanted out of life, and I've had to fight for everything, careerwise. So it's not anything new for me, having to stand up for myself. I've done it my entire life.
Through her brother and attorney, Watts made it clear to Goertz that she wanted to speak to the grand jury, or at least offer a victim impact statement. She tried over and over to reach the D.A."I called in October and I said, 'Is it going to go today?' Because I'm scheduling my life around being a part of this. And Goertz's secretary says, 'No, it's not going today.' Later that afternoon, they called me and said he changed his mind. He took it to the grand jury.
When Watts learned of the grand jury's decision, she again tried to reach Goertz. He called her back and the two spoke for the first and last time."And I'll never forget what he said, and I quote: 'It's the hardest case to win and the most overturned on appeal. Your avenue is civil court' – as if money could fix this or had anything to do with it! Civil court is about me and my injuries. It has nothing to do with the loss of Jennifer Miller.
Before Miller came into her life, Watts had been on her own. She hadn't been romantically involved in many years and had only been in love once before. She and Miller met for dinner in October of 2019, after a matchmaking campaign by a mutual friend. Miller soon moved into Watts' home on the river. In the end, they had eight months and seven days together.
Buckley was a 39-year-old community organizer who had co-founded the social justice group Mano Amiga in 2017 to advocate for undocumented immigrants. By the time he met Watts, the group was the leading progressive voice in San Marcos and Lockhart, winning a string of victories for indigent defense, police accountability, and criminal justice reform. Mano Amiga were experts at drawing media attention through press releases and public protests.
Watts interrupted him:"I don't care what your problem is. Y'all should have started that process a lot earlier than you did." San Marcos City Council Member Maxfield Baker believes that Standridge used the tools at his disposal to get rid of Hartman."I'm fairly confident that the chief took the steps to deal with a bad officer that were allowable by law, because the Pam Watts stuff didn't stick," Baker said."It looks like he did some extra digging to prove what we all knew and had heard about this officer.
The decision reminds Watts of Standridge's explanation for returning Hartman to the force – that he had no choice because the 180-day period to investigate the collision had elapsed. Since offering this excuse, it's become clear that SMPD still had almost three weeks remaining to conduct an investigation. And because Lockhart PD already had a completed investigation sitting on their desk, all the chief would have had to do was ask that department for a copy and review it.
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