If Fred Jackson wins his bid for Justice of the Peace in the upcoming Democratic Primary, lawbreakers should prepare to face a man packing a hard, award-winning body under his judicial robe.
Here are other things they should prepare for: a DWI conviction when he was a cop in which he crashed into five parked cars; allegations that he beat up a student and slept on the job when he worked school security; and his various nicknames, which include Incredible Hulk.
Jackson, 32, is running for Justice of the Peace in Precinct 4, Place 2, a Dallas County court that deals with eviction cases, tow hearings and various Class C offenses from its Irving location. Voting results so far show he has a decent chance of winning. He got 4,000 votes in the March primary, giving him 32 percent of the votes cast in his race. The incumbent and first-place winner, Judge Katy Hubener, beat him by just 432 votes. They face each other again in the runoff election May 27.
Jackson has yet to respond to messages we left on the phone number provided in his application to run for judge, on his campaign treasurer's phone and with his mother.
A campaign mailer he released, urging voters to support Fred "Action" Jackson, boasts that he is a Dallas Democratic Party precinct chair, a certified Peace Officer since 2005 and "former Safety & Security Dallas ISD and Duncanville ISD."
But documents obtained by the Observer show that the Peace Officer and school security careers both ended in disgrace. It was at Duncanville ISD where he got in trouble for possibly taking naps on the job. "This is a letter of reprimand for you having your head down at the desk while on your post during working hours," says a letter that Duncanville ISD sent Jackson in 2003. "This type of behavior gives off the impression that you were sleeping at your duty post."
He stayed on the job, until there was a food fight on campus the following year. One student got hit by a drink, the student later wrote in a victim statement. So the kid picked up the drink and threw it back. It was then, the student writes, that Jackson, the campus security guard, grabbed his shirt.
"I jerked away and when I jerked away he wrestled me to the ground," the student wrote. The school's assistant principal added in a second witness statement that she saw Officer Jackson "put the student in a chokehold with his right arm." A district investigation into the incident found that Jackson violated district policy with his use of physical force. He resigned at the end of 2004.
Jackson's profile on About.Me describes a long, accomplished career in law enforcement, most recently as a Deputy Constable for the Dallas County Constable's Office. He started as a traffic officer, his site says, and later worked his way up to the SWAT team.
He was still working as a Deputy Constable in 2008 when he was arrested on a drunken-driving violation, Dallas Police Department records show. According to the arrest report, Jackson had been speeding down Northwest Highway when he hit another driver. Jackson then lost control of the vehicle, veered over the sidewalk and crashed into five parked cars, according to a crash report.
Jackson resigned. The case went to trial, and in 2010 a jury found him guilty. He was fined $500 and sentenced to 90 days in jail, though the jail sentence was later suspended in place of community supervision. He appealed, records show, and the appeals court sided with the jury.
Then, in 2010, he was arrested on a second drunken-driving charge. "Before I could ask Jackson any questions, he was quick to state that he was a commissioned peace officer, not sworn and unemployed," says the officer's arrest report. "When I asked where he used to work as an officer, Jackson failed to answer my question even after several attempts to get that question answered."
He was convicted of a DWI again, placed on community supervision for two years and fined $1,000. Then, this year, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement suspended his peace officer's license for 10 years because of the DWI violations.
In an undated application he filled out to work for the Milford Police Department, he writes that his nickname is Incredible Hulk and that he has a Hulk tattoo. And his about.me profile adds that he also pursued a successful career in bodybuilding during his time in law enforcement. In 2009, his site says, he won first place out of 35 competitors at the Dallas Europa Fit Model Hard Body Contest.
