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“It’s becoming a disturbingly familiar scene in America - mentally unstable cops”

“It’s becoming a disturbingly familiar scene in America - mentally unstable cops”
“It’s becoming a disturbingly familiar scene in America - mentally unstable cops”

Hearing officer went too far in Lubbock police officer's suspension review, appellate court rules


An Amarillo appeals court has agreed with the city of Lubbock that a hearing officer overstepped his authority in reducing a police officer’s suspension for excessive force.
A three-judge panel of the Seventh Court of Appeals on Friday, Sept. 13, reversed 72nd District Judge Ruben Reyes’ ruling that the city had no standing to appeal the hearing officer’s decision regarding Lubbock police officer Christopher Hennsley’s suspension to the court.
The appeals court remanded the case to Reyes for reconsideration.
Then-Chief Dale Holton suspended Hennsley indefinitely — in essence firing the officer — in June 2010 for using excessive force and violating several other police policies during a January 2010 traffic stop.
Hennsley, then an 11-year member of the force, appealed. Hearing officer William McKee in November 2011 reduced the suspension to 15 days and awarded him back pay.
McKee reduced the suspension because he refused to consider any charges in Holton’s indefinite suspension order that hadn’t also been raised in the initial complaint Capt. Scott Hudgens wrote. Hudgens’ memo started an internal affairs investigation of the incident.
McKee held that there was no reason Hudgens’ original complaint could not have been amended while the internal affairs investigation continued.
The Seventh Court of Appeals decided state law didn’t allow McKee the discretion to pick and choose which parts of Holton’s suspension order would be reviewed.
The case arose from a traffic stop near the La Kumbia nightclub on Avenue Q that involved several Lubbock police officers.
A police dashboard video shows Hennsley smashing the rear window of the Ford Mustang he and another officer pursued in their vehicles.
The video also shows Hennsley running up to one of the vehicle’s occupants, who had left the car with his hands up, and kicking him in the stomach.
Other charges against Hennsley including making a misleading radio call, trying to subdue a resisting person without holstering his handgun, using his stun gun without warning other officers and discharging the stun gun with one hand while he had his handgun in the other hand.
Chief Justice Brian Quinn and Justices James T. Campbell and Mackey K. Hancock were the panel that heard the case.