Texas father is in a coma and fighting for his life ‘after getting sucker-punched by his daughter’s boyfriend while trying to protect her’
- Jaime Apodaca, 24, charged with multiple counts of assault for allegedly beating up Eric Garcia and his grown daughter
- Affidavit states Garcia came to his daughter’s defense when he heard Apodaca calling the woman names and accusing her of infidelity
- Apodaca allegedly punched the father multiple times and knocked out one of his daughter’s teeth
- As the fight spilled outside the house, affidavit says Apodaca sucker-punched Garcia, causing him to fracture his skull
- Garcia, who also has a 12-year-old daughter, has been in a coma since Saturday suffering from brain injury
A Texas man has been left clinging to life after police say he was brutally beaten by his daughter’s boyfriend during a domestic dispute last weekend.
According to an arrest affidavit, Eric Garcia defended his grown daughter after he overheard her boyfriend of one month, Jaime Apodaca, calling her names and accusing her of infidelity on Saturday morning.
Garcia entered his daughter’s bedroom at his home in Austin, where the 24-year-old Apodaca had been staying, and told the man to leave.
Jaime Apodaca, 24 (left), has been charged with assaulting his girlfriend’s father, Eric Garcia (right), and beating the man into a come in Austin on Saturday
The affidavit alleges that Apodaca punched Garcia and then his daughter who tried to protect her father, knocking out one of her teeth.
The brawl continued on the hallway stairs, where Apodaca allegedly knocked down Garcia multiple times as the victim’s daughter screamed at him to stop.
At the bottom of the staircase, Apodaca allegedly pushed his girlfriend into a shoe rack with such force that the piece of furniture broke on impact.
The fight then spilled out into Garcia’s driveway, where according to the affidavit, Apodaca sucker-punched the father.
The man collapsed and hit his head on the concrete so hard that his skull cracked and blood leaked out.
According to the description of a GoFundMe campaign launched by a friend to help the victim and his family with medical and living expenses, Garcia’s heart stopped and it took paramedics 15 minutes to revive him.
Garcia (left and right) was punched multiple time while defending his daughter and hit his head on concrete, leaving him in a coma with a brain injury
Garcia was rushed to a hospital suffering from an inter-cranial trauma and a herniated brain. He remains in a coma, and according to Rock Schouman, the friend who created the GoFundMe page, the prognosis is not good.
‘He tried to split up a fight. He was such a quiet, nice, humble person,’ Schouman told KXAN. ‘He didn’t really deserve what happened to him.’
Besides the GoFundMe campaign, Schouman also has launched a Facebook fundraiser to raise money for Garcia and his children, including his 12-year-old daughter.
As of Wednesday morning, the two campaigns together have netted more than $3,500 in donations.
Meanwhile, Apodaca has been booked into the Travis County Jail on charges of assault causing bodily injury to a family member; assault causing bodily injury and aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury to a family member.