Police in a video of Ovaldi is the husband of a murdered teacher

An Ovaldi police officer has been criticized for a video of him checking his phone during the Robb Elementary School massacre and the husband of a teacher who died in class and called him after he was shot, according to a Texas lawmaker investigating the shooting.

Texas State Representative, Joe Moody, came to the defense of Robin Ruiz after the officer was chosen by some social media users as an example of the bewildering inaction of law enforcement during the May 24 attack.

About 80 minutes of surveillance video released this week showed Austin American Statesman Ruiz as one of the first officers to make it to the lobby after the shooting began. He checks his phone moments before the officers closest to the class run down the hall after the shooting.

Modi tweeted on Wednesday that the officer is the husband of Eva Meirelles, one of the teachers who were murdered along with 19 children in fourth-grade classes. Modi is part of a Texas House of Representatives committee that has been investigating the shooting for weeks and is due to announce its findings on Sunday.

“I wasn’t planning on speaking out until the report came out, but I couldn’t sit idly by seeing this man, who had lost everything, smeared as if he was indifferent or actively malicious. Context matters,” Moody tweeted.