Men denied bail after attack on police car after sideshow

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, both 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 allow them to return to Arizona, sharing Assistant District Attorney Timothy Moore’s concerns that such a scenario would reduce the likelihood of them appearing in court.

As part of the Durbins’ release conditions, Ramon ordered them to undergo electronic monitoring and prohibited them from seeking information about sideshows.

The judge’s decision was based in part 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 two, 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 right thing for the defendant because Tyler Durbin had at least 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 area. 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 area to clear 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, as well as additional charges of resisting arrest, in connection with the altercation that occurred shortly before 7 p.m. on June 15 on Winchester Boulevard near Olin Avenue, on the western edge of Santana Row.

According to police and an eyewitness video shared on social media, a reserve police officer was the first to respond to a report that a bystander had been struck and injured by the driver of a Nissan sedan while he was doing doughnuts at a sideshow at the intersection.

As the officer drove about 100 feet from the crash scene, he was quickly surrounded by a crowd of people, some wearing ski masks over their faces. Several people began punching and kicking the officer’s patrol car as it backed away from the crowd. In the video, a masked person can 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 driver’s side of a San Jose Police Department patrol car 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.