Police upgrade charges against suspect accused of attacking couple after Cowboys game
ARLINGTON — Arlington police upgraded charges filed against a man accused of attacking a family after the Dallas Cowboys game.
Rafael Ramirez, 32 years old, is now facing two counts of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury, a second-degree felony.
It's a relief for the Gonzalez family as they struggle to get back to normal life after the attack.
"At the end of the day, we don't want bad to happen to people, but if you do bad, there's supposed to be some type of justice for that," said Wenceslao Gonzalez, who is recovering from surgery to repair torn ligaments in his leg.
The Gonzalez family went to their first-ever Cowboys game on September 22 at AT&T Stadium. As they left the game, they saw Ramirez screaming at a young woman.
Lindsey Gonzalez felt like she had to intervene to tell her to get away from him. That's when they say Ramirez turned on them.
The couple says the man first punched Wenceslao Gonzalez, then Lindsey Gonzalez, knocking her out cold. When she was on the ground unconscious, her daughter and other witnesses watched him kick her in the face, according to Arlington police.
It took surgery and four metal plates to fix the more than a dozen fractures on her face and nose, along with her broken jaw.
Ramirez spent about 24 hours in jail before being released on bond, according to what the Gonzalez family says detectives told them.
"Our lives are forever altered because of choices that were all made that day," Lindsey Gonzalez said. "We have to live with the choices that we made every day. I feel like he should have to live with the choices he made as well."
Lindsey Gonzalez can't help but second guess their decision to get involved that night, but she still believes it was the right message to send to the woman they tried to help and to anyone else in an unhealthy relationship.
"I didn't get in the middle of their altercation, I didn't stop them, I didn't walk up to either one of them," she said. "As I was walking by, I looked at her and I said, 'It's not worth it, get away from him.' That's all I said and I kept walking. So if it were my daughter, I'd want somebody to help, to say something, for her to at least know in that moment she didn't deserve what was happening to her."
Arlington police said they have officially handed the case to the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office for review.