Did Dallas police officers stage an arrest for KDFW? That’s the question at the heart of an internal investigation now being conducted by the Dallas Police Department.
A Dallas firefighter was arrested at his home on Thursday, following an incident last week in which he fired a gun in a firehouse. Fox O&O KDFW was the only local station to get footage of the arrest and now the Dallas Police Department is investigating whether the arresting officers operated outside of protocol in serving up the handcuffed firefighter for the KDFW news crew.
“It appears these officers may have conducted their operation outside of proper departmental protocol, but with the approval of their supervising lieutenant,” the department said in a statement sent out to local media outlets. “Their execution of the warrant also appears to have occurred concurrently with the arrival of a singular media outlet at the scene.”
Following the arrest, KDFW’s James Rose reported that he and photographer Raul Cantu were walking up to the firefighter’s house on Thursday afternoon, just to knock on the door, when an unmarked police car pulled up and officers informed them that they were walking into a police operation.
“At that point, we stepped back,” Rose said. “And within minutes, probably a half dozen, heavily armed police officers swarmed [the house].”
Dallas ABC-affiliate WFAA reports that the Dallas Police Public Integrity Unit was attempting to get the firefighter to surrender voluntarily when the police officers swooped in to make the arrest on-camera.
Here’s WFAA’s coverage of the investigation…
[WFAA, KDFW, NewsBlues]