PARKER COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) – An
off-duty police officer from the Henderson County town of Malakoff has been
indicted on criminal charges.
Officer Ernesto Fierro turned
himself in at the Parker County Jail just after 5 p.m. Thursday afternoon. He
was officially charged with one count of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly
Weapon, one count of Official Oppression, and three counts of Reckless Driving.
Fierro was released on $85,000 bond less than 35 minutes after arriving at the
jail.
A reckless driving
investigation began when driver Bill Livezey died in December after calling
911. Witnesses told authorities Fierro, who was riding his personal motorcycle,
was trying to run Livezey off the road.
According to officials, Livezey
was in handcuffs and complaining about not feeling well when sheriff’s deputies
arrived. Paramedics took the 70-year-old father to a hospital, where he died.
Records obtained by the CBS-11
I-Team detail that before working in Malakoff, Fierro had trouble while an
officer with the Dallas Police Department. Records show he was fired in May
2001 for conduct discrediting the department. But he was re-instated in October
of that year after appealing, and instead, was suspended for 20 days.
Fierro left DPD and went to
work as an investigator with the Dallas County DA’s office, before finally
landing in Malakoff.
Livezey’s children have now
hired attorney Greg Price, of Sulphur Springs, to investigate whether their
father’s federal civil rights or state laws were violated.