By Vivian Ho
The San Francisco Chronicle
SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco judge denied a request Thursday to reduce bail for the girlfriend of a man accused of running down a state firefighter early Thanksgiving Day, saying action she allegedly took to protect her boyfriend had “some thought behind it.”
Alyssa Tejada, 22, of Belmont first tried to repair the sport utility vehicle that Eduardo Esquivel allegedly used to ram the off-duty firefighter and Iraq war veteran, then left it in a crime-prone neighborhood in the hopes someone would steal it, prosecutors said.
Tejada has been charged as an accessory after the fact in the attack that left Albert Bartal, 29, with a traumatic brain injury. She appeared in Superior Court on Thursday alongside Esquivel, 22, for a hearing at which prosecutors were seeking to have the two tried together.
Esquivel and Bartal got into an argument at about 2:45 a.m. Nov. 24 at a Jack in the Box restaurant at Geary Boulevard and 11th Avenue, police said. The men left the restaurant, and Bartal walked to a Shell gas station two blocks away.
Witnesses saw Esquivel get into a black sport utility vehicle and deliberately run down Bartal before fleeing the scene, police said.
Surveillance camera
Bartal served in Iraq with the Marines and is now a seasonal firefighter with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s San Mateo-Santa Cruz unit.
Esquivel was recorded on cell phone video before the attack, saying, “I’m going to f- him up right now. I’m fitting to go f- run him over,” said Assistant District Attorney Omid Talai.
A surveillance camera filmed Tejada’s rented SUV running down Bartal, the prosecutor said.
Esquivel was arrested several days later after an officer recognized him from surveillance video taken in the Jack in the Box. He is charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and torture.
Vehicle’s return
Before Esquivel’s arrest, Tejada called Enterprise Rent-a-Car to extend her rental agreement on the SUV and ordered parts from Mazda to repair the damage caused by the hit-and-run, Talai said. While ordering parts, she asked employees whether she had to tell the rental company about the damage, Talai said.
Tejada did not ultimately repair the SUV and instead left it in the Bayview neighborhood with the keys still inside, hoping to entice a thief, Talai said.
Her attorney, Jai Gohel, argued that Tejada hadn’t known about Esquivel’s alleged threat to run over Bartal. He also noted that she had eventually told police where the SUV was located.
“In the end, she did the right thing,” said Gohel, who was arguing to have Tejada’s $200,000 bail reduced to $30,000. “She returned the vehicle.”
Tejada “did the right thing” only after police contacted her several times, Talai noted, urging that bail remain at $200,000. Judge Samuel Feng sided with the prosecutor.
“The key words are, ‘in the end,’ ” Feng said. “The police station is open 24 hours.”
Hearing set for today
Tejada said nothing during the hearing and made little eye contact with anyone in the courtroom, including her mother and aunt. She did not look at Esquivel, who stood on the other side of her attorney.
Both Tejada and Esquivel have pleaded not guilty and are being held in County Jail. The judge granted the prosecution motion to try them together and ordered them to return to court today to set a preliminary hearing.
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