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Another Dallas Police officer was issued an arrest warrant for official oppression, which occurs when a public servant uses their position to violate another person’s rights. This time, it’s Sgt. James Cullen Bristo, 59, who’s been with the department since 1988, working the South Central patrol division.
The Dallas Police Department announced the arrest warrant on Wednesday. In a social media post, the department didn’t detail what Bristo actually did that led to the warrant. DPD only said it stemmed from an incident in August last year, that Bristo was expected to turn himself in and that he’d be on administrative leave until an internal affairs investigation concludes.
Late Thursday afternoon, The Dallas Morning News obtained the arrest warrant affidavit. It accuses Bristo of choking a man, using a technique only allowed when deadly force is necessary. The man Bristo allegedly choked had his legs tied together and both wrists cuffed to a stretcher at Parkland Memorial Hospital.
The affidavit says the man was arrested in Deep Ellum and taken to Parkland, but it doesn’t specify what he was arrested for. At the hospital, the arrested man became agitated, sparking an argument between him and Bristo, witnesses told police.
Robert Rogers, Bristo’s attorney, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Bristo made a post on social media vaguely addressing the warrant. “I can’t go into details, but today is turning out to be an exceptionally bad day,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “There [is] some major stuff going on that I need direction [and] peace with. My heart is hurting.”
“I can’t go into details, but today is turning out to be an exceptionally bad day.” – James Cullen Bristo, Dallas police officer
Reached directly, Bristo told the Observer over Facebook that if we had questions about playing the guitar he’d be happy to talk. Otherwise, he said the arrest warrant is an ongoing situation and he doesn’t have any comment for us now.
The same month this alleged official oppression incident occurred, Bristo wrote a Facebook post celebrating his 33-year anniversary with the department.
On Aug. 15, 2021, he posted, “33 years today I entered the Dallas Police Academy as a young, naÁ¯ve 25 year old man. Only a year before, I was convinced I was going to be the next big thing in rock and roll. Fortunately God had other plans.”
He goes on to say that it didn’t take him long to learn his police work was about more than just putting people in jail. “Although, that is really fun,” he wrote, “it is primarily about service to people.”
Bristo added, “I have learned that I have a deep love for people, especially those in the southern Dallas [area] that I have been blessed to serve.”
In the post, he implied he was nearing retirement.
“My time with the DPD is almost over. No date yet but I’m getting there,” Bristo wrote. “I have fought the good fight I have almost finished the race. I have experienced incredible personal successes and experiences as well as profound personal failure. But oh what a ride! Maybe it’s time to try rock and roll again.”
It hasn’t been the smoothest ride, as of late. He was arrested in August 2020 for allegedly driving while intoxicated in Irving. Bristo was in a parking lot asleep at the wheel of his truck, according to The Dallas Morning News. He drove off, and when he was pulled over, he told cops he was at a whiskey tasting earlier. That case was dismissed early last year because a judge said there was no reasonable suspicion for the traffic stop.
Two Dallas officers were also served arrest warrants for official oppression last month over their actions during Black Lives Matter protests in summer 2020. They were also charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for shooting protesters with “less lethal” rounds.
