It appears there is no excitement at today’s Dallas City Council briefing. TC Broadnax off agenda per the city website marking a huge change since last Friday.
What is the meaning of all this? Last week reports surfaced that TC Broadnax’s career in Dallas was over. An agenda item by Mayor Eric Johnson was going to review his performance as chief executive.
Mayor Johnson has made clear he believes Broadnax should be relieved of his duties.
Johnson and three council members, Blackmon (D9), Mendolsohn (D12), and Willis (D13) have asked that the closed session meeting take place.
Wednesday is typically a staff briefing day.
The mayor says the meeting is to “discuss and evaluate the performance and employment of Dallas City Manager TC Broadnax.”
Johnson said, “several of my duly elected colleagues on the Dallas City Council have made it clear in recent days that they also believe it is time for a change.”
He continued, “we are ready to move forward and discuss how best to build for the future of our great city…”
There is a long list of accountability issues with Broadnax’s tenure. Some of those include general management accountability including failure to supervise former Police Chief Reneé Hall, the loss of terabytes of city data, and a nonfunctional permit office inhibiting economic growth.
Why Is Broadnax Off Agenda?
There was a great deal of retail politics happening this weekend.
Reports surfaced that seven council members had approached Broadnax about resigning his position. They Mayor’s vote would be eight meaning a majority of the council supported the ouster of Broadnax.
It is becoming clear that Broadnax is has at least one, if not two, votes up in the air. Who those city council members are is not clear.
What is clear is today’s agenda no longer refers to an Executive session meeting about his performance. Additionally, his career does not appear in the draft agenda for next week’s city council meeting either.
An armed man is dead person is dead after a Duncanville Field House shooting Monday. Details remain unclear on the suspect’s motive.
Police shot the man at the Duncanville Field House Monday morning. There were more than one hbundred children on site attending summer camps police say.
No children sustained injuries per local sources.
Duncanville Field House Shooting
Duncanville police arrived in the area and confronted the man with a firearm.
The suspect arrived at an area hospital via local fire department ambulance. He died of his injuries at the emergency room.
Police will not release any information about the person or what led to the shooting.
A car in the parking lot closed off by crime scene tape and is being investigated.
Students went to the recreation center at 201 James Collins Boulevard for today. Parents may pick up their children at that location.
The shooting comes two weeks after the tragedy of Uvalde and threats at Pinkston High School.
On Friday, Mayor Johnson and others on Dallas City Council made clear they plan to oust him from his position.
Mayor Johnson has made clear he believes Broadnax should be relieved of his duties given ongoing problems under Broadnax’s supervision.
Johnson and three council members, Blackmon (D9), Mendolsohn (D12), and Willis (D13) have asked for the closed session meeting.
The result is a week of arm twisting to get to eight votes. In Facebook posts, Cara Mendolsohn makes clear she thinks they are there.
There is a long list of accountability issues with Broadnax’s tenure. Some of those include general management accountability including failure to supervise former Police Chief Reneé Hall, the loss of terabytes of city data, and a nonfunctional permit office inhibiting economic growth.
City Manager Broadnax Reacts: The Statement
City Manager Broadnax’s statement is nonconfrontational over the report stating periodic performance review is critical to me…”
He went on to say that these reviews “demonstrate progress” and “ensure transparency…”
A Dallas City Council/TC Broadnax showdown is coming Wednesday, June 15 it appears. The showdown is the culmination of years of infighting between the city council and city manager.
Mayor Johnson has made clear he believes Broadnax should be relieved of his duties.
Johnson and three council members, Blackmon (D9), Mendolsohn (D12), and Willis (D13) have asked that the closed session meeting take place.
Wednesday is typically a staff briefing day.
The mayor’s memo sent Friday says the purpose of the special called meeting is to “discuss and evaluate the performance and employment of Dallas City Manager TC Broadnax.”
In a press statement, Johnson said, “several of my duly elected colleagues on the Dallas City Council have made it clear in recent days that they also believe it is time for a change.”
He continued, “we are ready to move forward and discuss how best to build for the future of our great city and its amazing people, and that is why I have placed the item on the City Council’s agenda for next week.”
There is a long list of accountability issues with Broadnax’s tenure. Some of those include general management accountability including failure to supervise former Police Chief Reneé Hall, the loss of terabytes of city data, and a nonfunctional permit office inhibiting economic growth.
TC Broadnax Showdown: Public Safety
During a June 2002 city council meeting, Mayor Eric Johnson had a lot of questions for Police Chief Renee Reneé Hall during a special meeting about police response to George Floyd protests.
Before the meeting began two hundred local citizens spoke out about the city’s reaction to ongoing protests. They were almost all outraged about what happened on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge.
Beyond the George Floyd protests, a legal challenge can proceed against the city. Dallas lost Qualified Immunity by the family of Tony Timpa.
Beyond, Timpa another in custody death happened just over two weeks ago similar to Timpa’s. City police have not improved their response to mental health issues.
Another area of concern for some city council members is economic development. Mr. Broadnax’s tensure shows a race backward in this area.
Broadnax and then EcoDev chief Dr. Eric Anthony Johnson pushed a $3M grant package to a grocer in South Dallas. The grant had no strings attached and left city taxpayers paying the bill. The grocer was a politically connected friend of Broadnax.
There are also ongoing permitting issues within Dallas.
Dallas permitting can average roughly four months to get a commercial building permit and more than a month for residential permits.
Some say approval times were projected to reach as high as ten to twelve weeks due to staffingg and executive decision making.
One local businessman noted, “No one on staff is invested in making the permit process go smoothly. Least of all TC.”
The issue is further punctuated by Elon Musk’s development outside Austin, Texas. In a recent Elon Musk statementhe said, “in Texas, it took us eighteen months to build a Gigafactory. In California, we’d still be working on the permits.”
Most large Texas cities expedite economic development projects that bring jobs and opportunity to the tax base. Dallas does not seem to show the same interest in doing the same.
There is also no clear city plan is to address homelessness, road maintenance, or 911 call center response.
Broadnax was at a Texas City Management Association conference at a Hyatt resort and spa in Cedar Creek, Texas. Broadnax makes more than $400,000 per year.
This time the victim was LaDamonyon Dewayne Hall and it comes as the Supreme Court says a lawsuit can proceed against the City of Dallas in the death of Tony Timpa, by Officer Dustin Dillard.
LaDamonyon Dewayne Hall Situation
In late May, forty-seven year old Hall died after she was handcuffed and restrained by Dallas police officers and Dallas Fire-Rescue officials in East Dallas.
LaDamonyon Hall’s autoposy is pending, but in video released by Dallas police it shows responders pinning LaDamonyon Hall similar to the Timpa case.
Police officers responded to a 911 call for a disturbance near a car lot.
Hall can be seen in the video in various levels of responsiveness – sometimes answering officer questions, sometimes answering unintelligibly.
Per police, Hall became agitated, stood up, yelled at the first responders, and started removing her clothes.
Officers pinned her to the ground where she continued to “thrash about and scream” per Deputy Chief Terrence Rhodes, but Hall can be heard saying “you’re hurting me.”
She was put on a stretcher and into an ambulance. On the way to the hospital, Hall “became quiet and started to lose vital signs,” Rhodes said.
She is handcuffed and a hood is placed over her face. She appears unresponsive just before arriving at the hospital.
Dallas police have a General Order stating that video in these cases must be released within seventy-two hours, but police leadership waited nearly two weeks to do so.
Hall was transported to Baylor University Medical Center unconscious, unresponsive, and in cardiac arrest. She was pronounced dead at 2:05PM.
LaDamonyon Dewayne Hall Video
Video of the interaction can be seen here:
Dallas police are investigating the incident, but in numerous previous incidents, police are always cleared of charges despite starting an incident with a person breathing on their own and ending up dead.
Dallas Fire Rescue officials say they are also looking into the incident.
Musgraves went on to say she witnessed “his extremely overblown, unnecessary aggression and erratic behavior.”
“He made me feel unsafe and upset to the point of crying and I witnessed another passenger he also made cry,” Musgraves wrote. “The female flight attendants on board vocalized their own disbelief, and struggles with him as well.”
Reaction Appalling American Airlines
American Airlines would not confirm to Other Side Dallas any details of the investigation into the allegations, or whether any actions had been taken against the accused employee.
Communicable disease disasters are back on the frontburner as monkeypox in Dallas was announced yesterday afternoon in a combined press conference by Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) and Dallas County Health officials.
DSHS is actively working with Dallas County Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate the current single case of the virus infection in a Dallas County resident who had traveled to Mexico recently.
The patient is isolated at home. The public health investigation has identified a few people who may have been exposed in Dallas and are monitoring themselves for symptoms of infection. The illness does not currently present a risk to the general public thought there are multiple cases happening in Europe indicating it may be community spread.
The CDC are tracking multiple cases of monkeypox that have been reported in several countries that don’t normally report monkeypox, including the United States. DSHS and the CDC urge health care providers in the United States to be alert for patients with rash illnesses consistent to monkeypox.
Monkeypox is transmitted to humans through close contact with an infected person or animal.
It can also be transmitted from person to person by inhaling large respiratory droplets or through close contact with body fluids and lesions, as well as bedding and other contaminated materials. Those infected may experience fever, rash and swollen lymph nodes, as well as more serious complications.
Monkeypox in Dallas – Again
Last July, a patient returning from international travel was diagnosed with monkeypox. That diagnosis and the presence of Candida Auris – an untreatable fungal infection – led to concerns about additional infections on top of the coronavirus pandemic.
The case of excessive force will go to a jury and a previous ruling states the city does not have Qualified Immunity. This could be costly to taxpayers as most believe officers acted well outside normal procedure.
One officer who had pinned Timpa for nearly fifteen minutes on the ground is quoted as saying, “I hope I didn’t kill him.”
Tony Timpa
Qualified immunity is a type of legal immunity.
“Qualified immunity balances two important interests—the need to hold public officials accountable when they exercise power irresponsibly and the need to shield officials from harassment, distraction, and liability when they perform their duties reasonably.”
Tony Timpa Case Issues Unresolved
The Tony Timpa case has been compared to the George Floyd murder in a number of ways including the manner of death.
It is not clear procedures have changed within the Dallas Police organization as new Chief Eddie Garcia has gone out of his way to hide crime data from citizens and journalists, his officers detained homeowners in their own home without cause, and there still is no accountability for out of control officers during the George Floyd protests.
The police department would not comment on the ongoing legal issue.
Senior Corporal Daniel Jamieson, with the Dallas Police Department, was arrested by McKinney police officers during the Memorial Day weekend.
The arrest comes just days after Chief Garcia admits he is “appalled” and “embarrassed” by officers who did not stop to render aid to an accident victim they had been chasing at high speeds only moments earlier.
We have reached out to Dallas Police for comment from Chief Garcia, but have received no response at time of publish.
The Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) charge is a Class B misdemeanor.
This is not the first Dallas Police issue with Driving While Intoxicated event.
At the time, Deininger was assigned to teach the Standard Field Sobriety Testing program at the Dallas Police Department Academy.
Daniel Jamieson History
Jamieson has been a police officer in Dallas since February 2008. He is currently assigned to the Tactical Operations Division.
The Tactical Operations Division is currently led by Assistant Chief Reuben Ramirez.
This tactical group is the same type of unit that would respond to a school shooting. They would make situational decisions and use elevated tactics to affect arrests.
He is on administrative leave pending the outcome of an Internal Affairs investigation.
If convicted, this charge carries with it a minimum term of confinement of 72 hours in a local jail. The charge could be elevated to a Class A misdemeanor if Jamieson’s Blood Alcohol Content concentration is at a level of 0.15 or more at the time the analysis.
Two officers are on leave after video shows they failed to render aid to an accident victim whose crash they may have caused.
Sr. Cpl. Leonard Anderson and Officer Darrien Robertson are both on leave, but per Chief Eddie Garcia will not be charged with failure to stop and render aid.
On May 13, 2022, two officers observed a car leaving a gas station without its lights on.
They began a pursuit with lights and sirens, but broke off when the suspect began to evade police. Dallas Police has a policy stating unless the suspect is wanted for a felony or in the process of a felony they will not pursue for safety reasons.
Dash camera footage from the police car clearly shows that the vehicle the officers had been chasing along Martin Luther King Boulevard could be seen jumping a curb and crashing. It did so after the police car turned off its lights.
The suspect vehicle nearly hit a pedestrian after proceeding through a stop sign at a high rate of speed. He then lost control of his vehicle and his vehicle was engulfed in flames. Local bystanders removed the man from his vehicle.
Dallas Fire Rescue performed CPR on the man for an unknown period of time.
DPD Doesn’t Render Aid – No Charges
Garcia said he is appalled and embarrassed by the incident.
“I’m embarrassed for the men and women of this department,” Garcia said. “This is not what we stand for.”
Garcia told local media he’s “appalled that his officers left the scene without checking on the driver first,” however the officers will not face any charges.
Garcia says the police department considered charging the officers with failure to stop and render aid, but chose not to do so upon interpreting that state law on such charges only applies when a person clearly caused an accident before fleeing the scene.
The choice to not charge officers with failure to render aid is another reminder of police inaction.
In Uvalde, Texas officers reportedly stood by for forty-five minutes while receiving 911 calls from inside the classroom where an assailant was shooting children.
Additionally, during the George Floyd protests most officers are not being investigated, much less prosecuted, despite injuries to bystanders by Dallas law enforcement.
The inconsistency has some shaking their head. During several protests at Dealey Montessori in North Dallas, white protestors were allowed on campus with firearms in some cases over the mask mandate and officers would take no action.
Changes may be coming though. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled that Dallas police officers violated a mentally ill man’s constitutional rights when they pinned him to the ground for fourteen minutes and that they might be liable for his death.
This case is ultimately another example of Dallas police failing to perform their basic duties in providing service and protection to citizens of Dallas.
The last Chief of Police left city service suddenly after an inappropriate relationship with a known felon came to light. Our reporting led to the immediate resignation of U. Reneé Hall.
Despite pledging to serve the remainder of 2020, her resignation was announced on December 10, 2020, with Lonzo Anderson, appointed Interim Chief of Police starting December 15, 2020.
City officials from the Mayor’s Office and City Manager’s Office continue to avoid questions about her tenure or the most recent allegations.
Since that time multiple officers have been arrested – some more than once.
Additionally, Chief Garcia is referred to as on an island. Insiders have complained about the new chief’s lack of accountability and transparency when dealing with the public.
