Dallas police didn't set out to arrest Julio Escobar at the intersection of Oak Lawn and Hall Street at 5 a.m. this morning. They set out to arrest the 25-year-old at a Lemmon Avenue apartment complex a half mile away, where they took note of his slurred speech and alcohol stench.
"Officers asked him for his ID, and he refused," said DPD spokeswoman LaTonia Kelly. "That's how it got started."
When Christopher Johanns and his partner grabbed for Escobar's arm to arrest him, he jerked away and took off running. He made it the half mile to the aforementioned intersection before they caught up with him.
"They had to take him to the ground in order to handcuff him," Kelley said. "And the arrested person turned around and punched [Johanns] in the nose with a closed fist."
Escobar's fist did little lasting damage, but he did somehow manage to break Johanns' thumb before the officers could get the cuffs on, thus turning a likely misdemeanor public intoxication offense into a felony charge of aggravated assault on a public servant. He was booked into Lew Sterrett this morning. He has not, it seems, been provided with a comb.
