“I’m in the lobby, and I need some help,” Kristiana Coignard said into the station telephone at the Longview Police Department. “OK what kind of help do you need?” an officer asked. The officer gets no response, and the recording ends…
Last week, Cowboys backup running back Joseph Randle was cited and released for misdemeanor marijuana possession after police responded to his Wichita, Kansas, hotel room following a 911 call about domestic violence. The weed charge was subsequently dropped, but just released 911 tapes obtained by The Dallas Morning News show…
Larry Tuttle, a six-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department, died Saturday after police say a woman in his apartment shot Tuttle before shooting herself. The woman was an acquaintance of Tuttle’s, police say, but cops have not yet identified her. A 6-year-old girl, thought to be the shooter’s daughter,…
When Alexis de Tocqueville penned his meditation on the American prison system in the 1830s, the country’s experiment in solitary confinement was a half century old, begun in 1786 by pacifistic Pennsylvania Quakers as an alternative to execution. As the Frenchman noted, it hadn’t worked: Nowhere was this system of…
Kory Watkins, leader of the ammosexual group Open Carry Tarrant County, posted a video with a distinct Colonel Kurtz vibe to his Facebook page this morning. Pretty quickly, he took it down. Here’s what he said: This morning I removed a video from my Facebook because I thought there were…
In the lobby of the Longview Police Department station nearly two weeks ago, police fired their guns five times at a mentally ill teenager named Kristiana Coignard, killing her. In her final moments, Coignard was cornered by three armed officers. Why couldn’t they subdue her without killing her? The Longview…
If you were going to buy steroids online, Trusted Anabolic Solutions seems like a pretty good bet. According to online reviews, TAS offered a good product, discreet packaging, and fantastic customer service from someone going by “Big H.” Then, a few weeks ago, something went awry. On Muscle Gurus, jilted…
What a beautiful week we had. Temps in the high 70s, sunny skies, patio lunches — it was damn pretty. You got your bike tuned up, your picnic basket packed up, and you’re geared up for a kickass outdoor weekend. I am now here to crush your outdoor weekend dreams,…
Eutopia — which Unfair Park can’t help but pronounce as Eww-topia — is, or was, a swingers club located in a half-million dollar home near AT&T Stadium. The city of Arlington didn’t have a problem with that in and of itself, but has now sent James and Mary Self, who…
The two cases of Bud Light in the bed of John Werthing Jr.’s, pickup were still cold when Hutchins police pulled him over around 8 a.m. on September 30, 2013. A clerk at a Shell gas station had called in a shoplifting complaint a few moments before; a man matching…
One week after Longview Police Department officers shot and killed a mentally ill teenager in the lobby of their own police station, the department has released a surveillance video that captures the teenager’s death. It does little to clear things up. The police say Kristiana Coignard charged at officer Glenn…
In a region with poor public transit but plenty of available parking at the bar, it’s no longer surprising to learn that someone in law enforcement was arrested for driving drunk. That doesn’t make it OK that a longtime Dallas Police Department officer allegedly drove while under the influence in…
Rachel Hardy Johnson is nothing if not audacious. The 35-year-old Mansfield woman currently facing corpse abuse and theft charges in Tarrant County, stemming from decomposed and desiccated bodies found in her funeral home, has now pleaded guilty to stealing food stamps. See also: Multiple Bodies Found Inside Abandoned Funeral Home…
Two years ago the Texas Legislature slipped into the state budget an item mandating a thorough review of certain civil forfeiture proceedings. Civil forfeiture — the process state and federal prosecutors use to seize property from suspected criminals, whether they’ve been convicted or not — is a source of perpetual…
In October 2013, Clint Peterson was shot to death by a Duncanville Police Department officer. Now his family has filed a lawsuit in federal court against three unnamed officers who responded to the call that ultimately lead to his death. Other defendants named in the suit are Duncanville Police Chief…
A 3-month-old is dead and a teenage relative is in jail after a Monday morning drowning at an apartment complex near Charlton Methodist Hospital. Dallas police say they received a “person in danger” 911 call just after 6 a.m. When they arrived, they were told by members of Dallas Fire…
After James Harper, an unarmed kidnapping suspect, was killed by a police officer in July 2012, police Chief David Brown committed to reforming the way his department would chase suspects on foot. Brian Rowden, the officer who shot Harper, had ended up chasing Harper alone after Harper and three other…
Edgar Diaz’s life had all the trappings of the quintessential American success story. After fleeing his native Colombia in a harrowing escape from leftist guerillas in 2001, he and his wife settled in Dallas with little money and less English. With a diligence and entrepreneurial spirit that would do Horatio…
Anonymous associate and freelance investigative journalist Barrett Brown, who’s already spent more than two years behind bars, learned today that he will be locked up for three more. Brown, who admitted to being an accessory after the fact to accessing a protected computer — he linked to data obtained from…
In late December, two cyclists with heavy bruising on their faces said they had been punched by a random, angry motorist driving behind them on Turtle Creek Boulevard. Despite the serious accusations, the Dallas police who came to the scene that night didn’t appear to try too hard to get…
Jeani Mulligan’s mother-in-law may have died, but the 43-year-old Keller woman kept her memory alive, in the form of cashed Social Security checks, for more than a decade. Between December 30, 2000, the date of her mother-in-law’s death and February 2013, Mulligan received $124,825.30 intended for her dead relative. In…
Dallas Police Sergeant Paul Figueroa, a 20-year DPD veteran, turned himself in Wednesday after Collin County charged him with family assault, a Class A misdemeanor. Figueroa was charged with the same crime in 2012. After an internal affairs investigation, he was allowed to remain on the force. Now, he has…
