Police: Baytown bar patrons severely beaten with tire iron

BAYTOWN, TX (KTRK) -- A vicious attack with a tire iron outside a Baytown bar leaves two people unconscious, and one of them is now clinging to life.

Baytown police were dispatched Saturday to a bar in the 4500 block of Highway 146 in reference to a welfare concern. When they arrived, they found two men lying unconscious outside. Both had been severely beaten with a tire iron.

One of the victims, Rigo Garza, is still at Memorial Hermann Hospital in critical condition.

"His head was broken. They broke his skull. A lot of fragments of his skull were in his brain," Garza's wife, Angelica Garza, said.

Baytown police say it was in the parking lot behind the bar when a unidentified group of four to six men jumped Garza and his friend Eric Saenz.

Saenz says the attackers came out of nowhere with weapons.

"I just remember I was trying to help my buddy out. I was trying to help him out and somebody hit me on the side of the head. Before you know it, I'm on the ground and somebody is hitting me with a metal object on top of my head," he said.

Saenz' body's now covered with black and blue bruises and several fractures. Police believe the attackers used crow bars or tire irons to beat the men unconscious.

"They didn't stop. After we were on the ground, they still continued to beat us," Saenz said.

Baytown detectives believe someone knows who's behind that vicious attack. They're working hard to come up with leads on the criminal and hoping surveillance video from the bar will help.

Witnesses did give police a description of one truck seen speeding from the scene that night: an older-model red Dodge pickup truck.

Anyone with information about the suspects is asked to call the Baytown Police Department at 281-422-8371. You can also contact Crime Stoppers at 281-427-TIPS, submit anonymous tips online at the Baytown Police Department website http://www.baytown.org, or text keyword BAYTOWN plus your tip to 274637 CRIMES). Crime Stoppers will pay up to $5,000 cash and you will remain anonymous.