Latest news with #TheDallasPoliceDepartment
Axios
02-04-2025
- Business
- Axios
Dallas City Council to hear updated police academy proposals
The Dallas Police Department needs a new academy to train the hundreds of recruits it's supposed to hire in the next few years — but what that training facility will look like is still up for debate. Why it matters: A state-of-the-art law enforcement training facility is a key component in the city's plans to recruit more police officers. Dallas voters approved a proposition in November that requires the city to employ at least 4,000 officers. There are currently nearly 3,160 officers. The latest: Dallas Hero, the nonprofit behind the ballot initiative, sent a legal notice Monday to the mayor and City Council saying the city has until May 30 to comply with Proposition U. Meanwhile, council members will be briefed Wednesday on modified plans that will put a training center at the Dallas campus of the University of North Texas and a public safety complex elsewhere. Context: The city aims to hire 250 officers this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. So far, the city has hired 100 officers, and 65 officers have retired or left the department. Flashback: Dallas voters passed a bond package last May that included $50 million to pay for building a police academy. The bond money, $20 million in state grants, and $10 million from the Communities Foundation of Texas are tied to the academy's being located at the university. Yes, but: City leaders in February said there's not enough space at UNT-Dallas to fulfill training needs, such as having an outdoor gun range and driving course. Council members told city staff during a March briefing that the goal was to guarantee police recruits would train at the college campus. City staff later sent a memo saying recruits would start in classrooms at UNT-Dallas. What's next: Council will see updated academy plans Wednesday that would keep training for new officers at UNT-Dallas. The proposal includes a physical training center and running track, an outdoor training course, the basic academy with reality-based training, and an in-service training area for current officers. City staff are proposing also building a public safety complex on 60 acres elsewhere that would include a firearms training facility, a driving course for emergency vehicle training, and a Dallas Fire-Rescue teaching area.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Yahoo
Innocent driver's family sues Dallas after deadly police chase crash
The Brief Anthony Welch was an innocent driver who died from the impact of a high-speed police chase crash. His wife, Dee, remains hospitalized in critical condition. The couple's children say they are suing because they want to prevent this kind of thing from happening again. DALLAS - The family of a man who died when a police chase suspect crashed is suing the city of Dallas over that chase. The backstory Anthony Welch was killed in a car crash on Interstate 35E near Red Oak on Jan. 16. He and his wife, Dee, were in a vehicle that was struck by a wanted murder suspect fleeing Dallas police at a high rate of speed. Anthony died at the scene. Dee was critically injured. The suspect, 29-year-old Gabriel Cerna, was shot by Dallas police officers after he pointed a gun at them and tried to run away from the scene of the crash. Cerna also remains in the hospital. Once he is released, he will be booked into the Dallas County jail on charges of evading arrest, capital murder, and aggravated robbery. What they're saying Attorney Quentin Brogdon is representing the Welch family. "Their children are just devastated. The family's devastated about what has happened here," Brogdon said. "As we are talking here today, Ms. Welch is fighting for her life in a hospital where she's lost her husband." The attorney filed a negligence and wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the family against Cerna and the city of Dallas. It alleges the officers' decision to pursue Cerna on the interstate put bystanders, including the Welches, at risk. "The circumstances of the police chase here should have dictated that the police save the apprehension for another day. They were chasing at high speed this criminal suspect for over 2.5 miles on a busy highway – I-35E – at 10:30 a.m. with lots of other cars and traffic around. It was unsafe," Brogdon said. The family is seeking a minimum of $1 million in damages. The other side The Welch family could have difficulty seeking legal action against the city of Dallas due to the law of qualified immunity. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, qualified immunity "protects state and local officials, including law enforcement officers, from individual liability unless the official violated a clearly established constitutional right." Brogdon remains hopeful that his clients will prevail. "The difference that the law gives police officers is not unlimited. Officers have to use reasonable care, and they cannot act in a reckless manner that needlessly endangers the public," he said. What we know The Dallas Police Department's officers are allowed to chase suspects involved in violent felonies or when the officer perceives the suspect to be an immediate threat to public safety. Affidavits for Cerna's arrest state that he is the suspect in an armed robbery that happened at a shoe store in Dallas in December, as well as a murder that happened in Mesquite in December. Undercover DEA agents spotted him in the passenger seat of an SUV at a gas station on the day of the chase and notified Dallas police because he had outstanding warrants. Undercover Dallas officers began covertly following him at that point and called for a police helicopter and uniformed officers to conduct a felony traffic stop. Once the clearly marked Dallas police squad cars arrived, the affidavit states the driver of the SUV pulled over on the side of I-35E. Cerna allegedly ignored commands to exit the SUV, pushed the female driver out, "causing her to fall out in the middle of the highway," and then took off. A Dallas police sergeant authorized the chase "due to the severity of the violent offense," the affidavit states. What we don't know Dallas police haven't commented on the chase. They also haven't yet released body camera or dash camera video of the officer-involved shooting. In a statement on Tuesday, both the city of Dallas and the Dallas Police Department said they do not comment on pending litigation. The Source The information in this story comes from a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Welch family, interviews with the Welch family's attorney, arrest warrant affidavits, jail records, and past news coverage.
