By TRISTAN HALLMAN
Dallas Police Chief David Brown
has fired an officer who drove away from a woman who tried to flag him down
after her children had been kidnapped at gunpoint.
Senior Cpl. Les Richardson, a
28-year department veteran, was one of two officers fired Wednesday. Brown
suspended another officer for 45 days.
While Richardson, 61, was on
his way to a burglary call Aug. 25, dispatchers announced that shots had been
fired and a suspect had rammed a woman’s car in the area where Richardson was
driving, police said.
He then drove past a woman who
was shouting, “That’s him, that’s him, right there.”
“Right here what, baby? I’m on
a call,” Richardson said before quickly driving off. The exchange was captured
on dash-cam video, which was released Wednesday. It also shows him smoking a
cigarette in the patrol car.
The woman was referring to her
ex, Steven Douglas, who had rammed her car with his pickup and taken two
children out of her car at gunpoint.
Hours later, Douglas led police
on a car chase. He hit a van and then fled on foot. Witnesses and an officer
who caught up to him said Douglas pointed a gun at the officer. The officer
fatally shot Douglas, 29.
The children, who were with a
family member, were unharmed.
Richardson was placed on
administrative leave after the woman told investigators what happened.
His attorney did not
immediately respond to a request for comment.
Brown also fired patrol Officer
Leroy Sharp for missing 121 days of work without permission last year. Sharp
left work early March 21, 2013, saying he was sick. He later said he needed to
be off for a while.
Sharp’s initial leave of
absence was approved through July 2013, but his commanders denied a subsequent
request. Sharp still didn’t show up to work.
In the suspension case, Officer
Doyle Wynn was disciplined for failing to fill out a domestic violence report
Nov. 5, 2013, for a woman who had “visible injuries,” police said. Wynn took
the woman to her home while the suspect was there and the officer waited as she
retrieved her personal property, police said.
While Wynn was under
investigation, a supervisor caught him sleeping in his squad car Dec. 20, 2013,
after he had been dispatched to a call. The supervisor tapped on the window and
told him to go to the call, which he arrived at 37 minutes after he had been
dispatched.
All three officers have the
right to appeal their discipline under civil service rules.
