SAN ANTONIO- The woman who pleaded no contest in the manslaughter case of San Antonio police officer Sergio Antillon took the stand Thursday afternoon in her own defense. She discussed in detail the night of the accident including what she drank at the Bunratty Pub that night back on October of 2010, before she got behind the wheel.The defendant Sandra Briggs was questioned by her attorney for an hour and a half, adding that she had more than one drink the night she critically injured 25-year old rookie police officer Sergio Antillon in a car accident.
Briggs said, “I thought I only had maybe five, I was drinking real slow, and I was drinking it with a water bath. That's what they call it. They give you a drink and a glass of water”.
Briggs estimated she was at the Bunratty Pub for more than four hours before she got behind the wheel and came across officer Antillon's patrol car. He had stopped to help at an accident scene. The defendant recalled striking the officer's car.
“I could tell that I was still moving forward, I started breaking and I knew that it wasn't stopping,” said Briggs.
Her sister, Mary Coy Brannan and nephew in-law were also called to the stand as character witnesses. They talked about how much fun she was before the accident compared to now.
Brannan said, “She's quiet, introspective, and sad”.
The trial resumes at 9:30 A.M. Friday morning. Briggs faces 5 to 99 years in prison.
