| Dept. James Garcia |
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| AKA:
Portrayed by: Carlos Alazraqui First seen:Pilot Episode Count:73 |
Basic Description[]
Deputy Sergeant Class III James Oswaldo Garcia (Season 1-Season 5; played by Carlos Alazraqui) is an arrogant, racist, sexist, angry and depressed former Marine helicopter pilot.
Early Life[]
Garciahad flown an AH-1 HueyCobra for the US Marine Corps, as revealed in Reno 911!: Miami. He is divorced and has a daughter, who he has not seen in several years. In one episode, the other deputies hire a stripper to pretend to be his daughter in order to cheer him up (suggesting that he has no idea what his daughter looks like).
Sheriff's Dept.[]
Garcia is the second in command below Lt. Dangle, followed by Clementine Johnson, who holds the rank of Deputy Sergeant Class I. In Season 1 (fall 2003) the department celebrates Garcia's 15th anniversary of service, meaning he became a deputy in 1988.
Garcia is known to be very rough when arresting suspects, perhaps as a result of his inferiority complex. He has shot multiple people, and often uses his nightstick to beat suspects. His personal life (or lack of one) is often the subject of ridicule by his contemporaries, who mock his angry bowel movements (Dangle has said that in the men's room, Garcia sounds like the Battle of Normandy), his excessive masturbation and his habit of drinking alone while watching Hill Street Blues reruns. He also has a younger sister, whose life the other deputies manage to wreck, thanks to their mistaken belief that she was his girlfriend and was cheating on him with another man (her fiance). Garcia is usually partnered with Deputy Jones, leading to situational humor involving Garcia's racism and general ignorance of African American culture; despite this, the two are friends. In the cliff-hanger of Season 4, he eloped with Dangle's husband-to-be during their civil commitment ceremony, revealed in the Season 5 premiere as to be a bizarre practical joke as Garcia arrested Dangle and his boyfriend on the grounds that gay marriage is illegal in Nevada at the time.
Garcia is thought to be killed in the Tacos! Tacos! Tacos! Tacos! explosion at the end of the Season 5. In The Midnight Swingers, his ashes are fired from a cannon, as per his will; however, the deputies' attempt misfires and a squad car is destroyed in the process, for which Garcia is subsequently and posthumously blamed.
At the Reno 911 live show at San Francisco on January 23, 2010 it was revealed that Garcia had never actually died and that the network had faked it to boost ratings. He is currently living on a house boat in Sparks. Apparently the entire department knew except for Jones, who became the victim of a practical joke where he thought Garcia was haunting him.
Love Life[]
Divorced.
He has had brief relationships with Deps. Johnson and Williams and on more than one occasion,
it is implied that he harbors a homoerotic attraction to Kenny Rogers. He also kisses Dangle while stranded in a car freezing at the end of Season 3.
The deputies, suspicious of Garcia, followed him once to find him choosing a wedding cake with a beautiful woman. Thinking that she is cheating on him, they harass the man into fleeing Reno...only to find that the woman, Maria, is Garcia's sister, her fiance has disappeared for some reason and they've ruined her life.
Hobbies and Interests[]
A fan of Kenny Rogers, more so his acting than his music.
Enjoys the TV show 'Hill Street Blues'.
Misc[]
Despite being half Mexican, Garcia does not speak Spanish very well or with a good accent.
He is the worst shot in the department. A running gag is that Garcia empties his gun into an object only for it to be perfectly fine.