A Duncanville City Councilman was arrested by the city's police department after his wife accused him of stealing her cell phone and assaulting her, court records show.
Mark Cooks was elected to the Duncanville City Council in 2012. More recently, in June, the Duncanville City Council in June selected him to serve as the city's 2014 Mayor Pro Tem.
His wife Cynthia Cooks suspected a few months ago that he was having an affair with a woman at their church, according to an arrest warrant. So, on September 8, 2013, Mrs. Cooks followed the other woman in her car after that week's service. The two pulled over in a parking lot.
The warrant doesn't have many details about what transpired between the two women, or where Mark Cooks was at the time, but soon enough he arrived on the scene.
Mrs. Cooks then got out of her car, cell phone in hand, and raised her phone "so that she could video Mark Donnell Cooks and the other woman together," the warrant says.
And this is where the criminal charges come in: The warrant says that Mr. Cooks then grabbed her cell phone out of her hand, while at the same time clutching her biceps "so hard it caused her physical pain." After he got the phone, he pushed her away, the warrant says.
Ms. Cooks got back in her car and drove to the Duncanville PD, asking for help to get her cell phone back. The officer tried to call the councilman on his own cell phone "to hear his side of the events," but police say the councilman didn't return the call.
The next day, the police department arrested and accused him of assault/family violence, a Class A Misdemeanor.
Cooks got out of jail shortly after on a $1,500 bond.
His wife has since asked for the charges to be dropped, though she doesn't explain why. "I want the prosecution of this case to be withdrawn, dismissed and terminated, and it is my desire that the District Attorney dismiss all charges against Mark Cooks," says the affidavit of non-prosecution that she signed on September 17.
Cooks' next hearing is scheduled for December 30. He didn't return calls, but his attorney, Lorenzo Brown, said he expects all of the charges against him to be dismissed and disputes the account of the alleged assault in the warrant. "I know that's not what happened," Brown said.
Mark Cooks currently is still serving on the council, his attorney said, adding, "Why do you think he wouldn't be?"
It's not the first time that a Duncanville City Councilman has been arrested. Last year, Duncanville City Councilman Scott Gannon made news after police accused him of "engaging in an act that constitutes indecent exposure." Gannon resigned not long after his arrest.
