The two officers are Dallas Police Department Senior Corporal Ryan Mabry and former DPD Senior Corporal Melvin Williams. Williams was fired by the department last month.
All but one of the charges stem from the string of protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man who was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer.
In December, DA John Creuzot’s office obtained an arrest warrant for Williams, accusing him of shooting a protest photographer in the face with a “less-lethal” round. The round was a sponge/rubber bullet, and it crashed into the left side of Vincent Doyle’s face, smashing his cheekbone. The shot took 60% of Doyle’s vision in his left eye, and he’ll likely need surgery in the future for his crushed cheek.
When Williams turned himself in over the Doyle case, his lawyer told the Observer at the time that they would fight the charges vigorously. Williams was also named as one of three officers allegedly involved in the shooting of a protester named Brandon Saenz.
Police shot Saenz with a less-lethal round. As a result, he lost an eye and several teeth, and his face was fractured. Though they’re involvement wasn’t detailed, DPD officers Mabry and Victor Rocha were also allegedly involved.
This week, the DA said he was charging Mabry with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon by a public servant, a first degree felony, and official oppression, a class A misdemeanor, in connection to the Saenz shooting. New evidence cleared Rocha and Williams in the Saenz case.
Mabry and Williams received those same charges for the shooting of a man named David McKee and another unknown individual during the summer protests. They were both shot with a 40-millimeter projectile launcher. Mabry has been placed on administrative leave while DPD investigates.
In November, a misdemeanor assault warrant was also issued for Williams regarding an incident last July. Video of the incident shows Dallas Police, including Williams, trying to break up a brawl in Deep Ellum. In the video, Williams can be seen shoving and punching a man several times before two other officers intervene. Williams turned himself in over the charge and was later fired by the department. But this week, the DA also handed the former cop a warrant for official oppression over the same incident.
The same day the DA charged the two men, the Dallas Police Association came to their defense. In a press release, the DPA said many Dallas officers were hurt during “these riots while protecting peaceful activists and bystanders.”
“Two officers, one former and one current officer, have unjustly been issued arrest warrants by the DA’s attorney for their actions taken while defending themselves, fellow officers and peaceful protesters from violent rioters that are throwing large rocks, bricks and frozen water bottles with the intent to harm,” the association said in a press release.
“The politically-motivated actions by the DA, who is facing a challenger in the Democratic primary, come less than one week before the start of early voting," the statement added.
The DPA held a press conference on Thursday to respond to the charges. At the press conference, DPA President Mike Mata said: “I believe in the system. This organization believes in the system. These officers have been charged with a crime … and we will use that legal system to defend them.”
For the officers to actually get indicted, Mata said, “It’s a high bar.” He said his bigger issue was with the process and the level of the charges the officers received. “It’s completely inappropriate for what happened,” he said. They should be held accountable if they did something wrong, Mata said, but “that does not rise to the level of sending someone to prison for 20 years.”“It’s sad that whenever something happens involving a Dallas police officer that there’s always some type of deflection." – Daryl Washington, attorney
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Toby Shook, Mabry’s attorney, said the protests weren’t peaceful. “They were there to instigate confrontations and violence with police officers and that was the atmosphere,” he said. “Officers are trained and have an actual duty to quell and suppress a riot … and that’s what they did and they used non-lethal means to do so.”
He said Mabry is an outstanding officer. “He’s the kind of officer you need in the Dallas police force,” he claimed.
The DA has asked twice for the public’s help in gathering more information about police misconduct during the protests. Most recently, Creuzot asked for help during a press conference at the beginning of January because the statute of limitations for potential charges were getting ready to expire.
Jesuorobo Enobakhare Jr., chair of the Community Police Oversight Board, told the Observer it was frustrating to hear charges were filed just months before the statute of limitations expired. “Why did it take so long for charges to be filed considering the evidence available immediately after the protest?” he said. “Most lost hope that any measure of accountability would happen. This is a cautiously encouraging development.”
Daryl Washington, a local attorney representing both Saenz and Doyle, said his clients were happy to hear about the charges.
Still, Washington said it was hurtful that the DPA came to the officers’ defense. “Brandon was not doing anything to violate the law,” he said. “Now that we’ve had warrants issued for their arrests, [the DPA] is now trying to make it seem like it’s Brandon’s fault and that’s a little disappointing.”
Washington also called the claim that the charges are political “outrageous.”
“It’s sad that whenever something happens involving a Dallas police officer that there’s always some type of deflection,” Washington said. “It’s never the Dallas police officer’s fault. They have this tough job to do and they are 100% doing things right at all times.”
Washington wonders why the officers didn’t come forward. “You would expect that a police officer would have come forward much sooner and said ‘Listen, this is what happened and this is why it happened,’” Washington said.
He said as long as police unions keep trying to justify incidents like these, they will keep happening. “If that continues to happen, we’re never going to be able to get any healing in this city or throughout the country," he added.
Washington said they’re frustrated and have questions about why it took so long for the DA to charge the officers. But they’ll take justice however they can get it.
“It’s tough, I can tell you,” Washington said. “But for victims, someone who has been severely injured, finding out two years later, compared to not finding out at all, we’ll take the two years later.”
