Ex DPS TRP Perez charged

[Purplehood]

I dont see anything that indicates the trooper intended to cause any injury. But what we all have to keep in mind is there is video we have not seen. The actual stop, initial suspect contact, the actions that led to her being handcuffed. The video we have not seen may play a role in what led up to all this. We wont know for some time.

gemini » wrote,
I went and watched the video clip again, several times. The dialog I am most interested in (besides the actions of the Trooper):
(0:54) Trooper "You're going to get hurt"
(1:02) Trooper "You're fixin' to get yourself hurt"
(1:06) Trooper "Quit resisting" {resisting what? she was cuffed, face first into a concrete wall}
(1:12) Trooper "Don't get yourself hurt"
(1:17) Trooper "Don't make me put you on the ground"

Ok, maybe you don't see a pattern here, but to me... He warned her he was going to hurt her at least five times before he did it. In my mind that speaks to intent.

Mine too. That he really didn't want to use more force than he was already using. BTDT. How many others posting to this thread can truthfully state the same?

Unfortunately I cannot figure out what point you are trying to get across.

[OldCurlyWolf]

The point is what I stated. His remarks point to wanting to NOT use more force.

BTDT = Been there Done that. How many here have been in a similar situation? Probably not many.

Arresting someone is usually not a thing an officers enjoys, it is something that is unpleasant that happens to be necessary.

[Purplehood]

I never elected to be in the BTDT crowd (well I did, but I changed my mind and reenlisted anyway). In any event being a part of the select-few has absolutely no bearing on this.
The issue is that a public-servant decided to exceed his authority and seriously injure a suspect that didn't need injuring. As a member of the public that has granted said public-servants extraordinary powers and authority, it behooves me to expect extraordinary discretion from those same servants.
I don't want those same public-servants to get hurt doing their job, but I don't want suspects to get hurt either if they are not trying to hurt back.
So I have to disagree. And from what I see, alot of other LEO's feel the same way I do and that makes me feel good.

[dac1842]

Time will tell. The DPS terminated the trooper, I have a hard time buying that it was a stand alone termination for this event, I wonder what other issues, if any, the trooper had on his record. While this looks bad, I still feel that it by itself is not worthy of termination. I still have issues with the second trooper's hands off approach.
In today's environment I get the feeling part of the termination was based on what would be the public opinion factor. Being politically correct hardly ever equates to being right.
I will not be surprised to see this trooper get aquitted and then get his job back.

[kurt]

I don't see the trooper did anything wrong. He asked her and ordered her several times to comply. She resisted and looked to me like she jerked and he pulled back to control her and spun her towards the wall. She looked like she stumbled and fell and struck her head on the wall. It did not appear to be intentional to me.

I supposed if she had jerked her arm and gotten loose and stumbled into traffic and gotten crushed by a truck that would also have been his fault?

I went and watched the video clip again, several times. The dialog I am most interested in (besides the actions of the Trooper):
(0:54) Trooper "You're going to get hurt"
(1:02) Trooper "You're fixin' to get yourself hurt"
(1:06) Trooper "Quit resisting" {resisting what? she was cuffed, face first into a concrete wall}
(1:12) Trooper "Don't get yourself hurt"
(1:17) Trooper "Don't make me put you on the ground"
(1:56-1:57) Trooper slamming a cuffed woman into a concrete wall, face first.

I would bet, if it had been your mother, sister or daughter on the receiving end of
that vicious face plant into a concrete wall ...... well, anyway.....

I agree with the Texas Rangers initial investigation/charge. I also agree with the attorney quoted in the story:
"As a chief felony prosecutor, a county judge, a state district judge, I've never seen anything like it. It's horrific," said Attorney Randy Isenberg. "Clearly excessive brutal force, he snapped. He lost his temper and he hurt her really bad."

You may see the verbal warnings above (about 5 inside of about 15 seconds) as an excuse for excessive force, I see them
as a sign he was losing his temper, and was already thinking about making this poor victim pay for his anger. She was questioning
his authority and he didn't like it.
This whole incident has no good outcome. The woman was obviously injured, the Trooper had to retire with this on his record.
Lose/lose situation if there ever was one.

What's nice about this forum is the varied opinions of it's participants. Many times we agree to disagree.

I guess I was taught to respect police officers. When I have been pulled over for speeding, during my one arrest for drag racing, and during any other interactions with an officer I am always respectful as are my mother, sisters, and other immediate family members. If I had any problems with any police officer or his treatment of me that would be discussed in a different situation then on the side of a busy highway at night.

[Keith B]

The trial for misdemeanor assault started last Wednesday. Perez could face a $4000 fine and up to a year in jail if convicted.

[Winchster]

A jury of his peers convicted him of misdemeanor assault.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 01ec5.html

[baldeagle]

A jury of his peers convicted him of misdemeanor assault.

Justice was served. Trooper Perez used excessive force and has paid dearly for that decision.

[TexasGal]

He got 6 months probation, a fine, and a prohibition against working in law enforcement for the next 10 years. I like the last part. This guy needed another line of work.

[gemini]

He got 6 months probation, a fine, and a prohibition against working in law enforcement for the next 10 years. I like the last part. This guy needed another line of work.

and BTW, it's 6 months of unsupervised probation. Unfortunately, I don't think the victims facial injuries will totally heal in 6 months. This whole
episode is bad juju for both parties.

[Beiruty]

After this high profile who will offer employment for the Ex-DPS ? Tough luck!

[Dreamhopper]

How can I go about learning of any past potential misconduct of an LEO? I know of an LEO in a small Texas town that has been to 3-4 different PDs in his short career and have heard there were disciplinary issues.

[srothstein]

How can I go about learning of any past potential misconduct of an LEO? I know of an LEO in a small Texas town that has been to 3-4 different PDs in his short career and have heard there were disciplinary issues.

There is a lot of work involved, and some of it is not available, but some is public record.

Any city that has voted in civil service has their records of discipline as public records. This will only include awarded discipline and not any cases where complaints were filed and the investigation resulted in the officer not being provably guilty of misbehavior. You can just write to the city with an open records request to get this.

Some of the records at TCLEOSE are also subject to open records requests. I don't recall exactly what is confidential and what is public, but an open records request for an places a license was activated at and any F-5's might get you some information. I think the F-5's are confidential, but I am not positive. The F-5 is the termination report and will list the reason for termination, though it may not provide enough detail for making a valid determination of what you are asking.