Anum Valliani
NewsWest 9
ODESSA - A formerly elected official found himself in some trouble Friday night.
52-year-old Jeff Corning, who used to be an Ector County Constable, was reported to have been in a misdemeanor assault case.
According to police reports, there was screaming, spitting, kicking and pepper spraying at the Hobby Lobby parking lot in Odessa.
The whole fiasco apparently started with a little road rage. Documents state Corning saw a white Ford Explorer run a stop sign on University and Oakwood. Corning, who was dressed as a security officer, allegedly got out of his car at the next light, came up to the SUV, and called the driver, 23 year-old Elizabeth Garcia, an idiot, among some obscenities.
"They got into some sort of an altercation, I don't know if it was road rage or what," Odessa Police Department Public Information Officer, Corporal Steve LeSueur, said.
That's when Garcia noticed he was wearing a badge and decided to report him to his supervisor, or if it got worse, the authorities. Garcia said she wanted to get his plates so she chased him down and into the Hobby Lobby parking lot. There, the two went at it some more. Corning alleges she assaulted him by spitting on his face, something she contends was instinct over the alternative, which was punching him.
"And then it became a he said, she said type of deal, where she claims that he pepper sprayed her and he claims that he did not," LeSueur said.
Apparently, Garcia thought Corning was pulling out a gun, realized it was OC spray and began rolling up her window. But it was a little too late.
"My car was orange for two days because of it. It was burning. Well I'm trained on that so I kind of just held my breath as soon as I could, but when I got out of the car, I accidentally inhaled and it went up my nose and it started burning my face real bad," Garcia said.
The report states, "Garcia was choking from the spray so she went home and cleaned up and drove back to the scene to speak to officers. Garcia said police swabbed the vehicle and found traces of the pepper spray along her vehicle, inside it and on the spraying device.
NewsWest 9 asked Garcia why she had to pursue him.
"I'm not going to leave it alone because I was not in the wrong. He shouldn't be out driving around like that thinking that it's okay to yell at people. I told him that I was sorry at the light and he still kept yelling at me in my face," she said.
NewsWest 9 contacted Corning and he didn't want to be interviewed but he did mention that he stands by his claims that he did not spray her. His statement also says she tried to kick him while Garcia claimed he slammed the car door on her leg.
The witness also did not want to be on camera but told NewsWest 9 that the reason she had to check things out is because she felt that Garcia looked like she was afraid for her life. But not anymore.
"I'm not scared. He can do whatever he wants to do. But I can say one thing. God sees everything and his will come to him," she said.
