DALLAS - "Questions are being raised about the Dallas Police Department's ability to investigate its own officers following a lawsuit settlement.
The lawsuit was against officers who allegedly got out of control on lower Greenville Avenue two summers ago.
The officers, who were working the lower Greenville Avenue club scene, were accused of randomly pepperballing and tazing bar patrons as they headed to their cars. Since that time, a group of those citizens sued the department and won. Still, none of those officers involved has been disciplined.
Darren Davis said he got a pepperball pellet in the face. Chad Fuqua said he was popped with a pepperball gun seventeen times, including in the back of his head while he was on his knees. And Edward Johnson said he was fired at seven times while he was in his car.
The accusations were all aimed at Sgt. Michael Smith, who along with a few other officers, used pepperball guns and tazers to subdue non-compliant citizens.
"It didn't matter your race, it didn't matter your age, it didn't matter what club you were at, if you questioned Sgt. Smith or any of the folks out there, you were going to get tazered," said Attorney David Schiller, who was hired to sue the city and some of the officers in question for excessive force and false arrests. "You were going to get pepperballed."
Now, the city has settled the suit and agreed to pay the plaintiffs more than $100,000 in damages. But Schiller said he is not satisfied. In fact, he said he is upset that not one of the officers has been disciplined.
"I think Chief Kunkle should be gravely concerned about the manner in which these internal affairs investigations are being conducted," he said.
Schiller said it's not too late for internal affairs to act.
One of his clients, Sean Gera, was tazed by police twice in the back and at least twice in the chest.
"And I asked them, 'How did he get those tazer marks on his chest?'" Schiller said. "And their answer is, 'I don't know.'"
His client said Officer Jesse Woods was the one who tazed him. But in a sworn deposition, Woods not only denied using a tazer, he said he never checked one out that night.
Yet according to an inventory sheet, Tazer number 10-98-10 was checked out to Officer Woods before his shift that night.
Officer John Bynum was also assigned a Tazer and admitted he did fire it into Gera's back. But somehow, it was never recorded on a mandatory Tazer Incident Report Form.
Dallas police did not respond to requests for an interview, but officials said none of the officers in question violated policy, and that's what has Schiller and his clients upset.
"Internal affairs is not doing its job," Schiller said. "They are not following appropriate investigative techniques. They are not doing the right type of investigations to weed out those officers who pose a hazard to the citizens."
David over at The War on Guns opined that now he knows why the police don't want citizens to bar-carry, and that pretty much hits the nail on the head. But of course they want us defenseless and sheep-able when they run amok like this, because if its one thing a cowardly scoundrel will not stand for its a fair fight.
In the environs surrounding Fort Fits I'm allowed to bear arms in a restaurant that serves alcoholic beverages as long as there's no bellying up to the bar. The quintessential designated driver who rarely imbibes in public...I drink like the good Lord intended, in a darkened room all by myself...I am armed and ready in virtually every frequented locale, know right from wrong with regards to constabulary intrusions into my law-abiding space, and have an attorney on retainer. A quick translation means don't fuck with me just because you are having a slow night and want a little action.
You'll get it.
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