Members of the Keller City Council met privately Tuesday night to discuss the civil rights lawsuit filed against two of the city鈥檚 police officers.
Marco Puente, of Keller, is suing officers Blake Shimanek and Ankit Tomer for their conduct during an Aug. 15 traffic stop involving his son, which allegedly ended with Puente being pepper sprayed and arrested, followed by an apology from the city鈥檚 chief of police, the lawsuit states.
The council was briefed by the police chief and city attorney in a Dec. 29 special meeting, according to .
"City leadership plans to refrain from commenting on this matter further until residents have had the chance to hear from Chief Fortune and provide formal comments to City Council," the post states.
Those comments will come on January 5, when Police Chief Brad Fortune is scheduled to address the council publicly. That meeting will also be open for public comment.
According to the lawsuit, filed earlier in December, Marco Puente and his son Dillon were on their way to meet at a relative鈥檚 house. Shimanek, who was then a sergeant, pulled Dillon over for making a wide right turn.
shows Shimanek asking Dillon why he was 鈥渁cting so suspicious鈥� after Dillon partially rolled up his car window. Shimanek told Dillon to get out of the car, which he did, and Shimanek handcuffed him.
鈥淵ou roll your window up, what does that look like to me?鈥� Shimanek asked as he cuffed Dillon. He later told another officer that he thought Dillon was going to drive away.
According to the lawsuit, 鈥淒illon rolled his window up around 戮 of the way so that he could safely speak to the officer and provide his identification.鈥�
Marco Puente then pulled up in a separate car and began filming from across the street, body camera footage shows.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e about to be arrested for blocking the roadway if you don鈥檛 park and get out,鈥� Shimanek warned him.
鈥淧ark and get out?鈥� Marco said.
鈥淧ark over there. You are interfering with my job. You need to go park over there,鈥� Shimanek said.
shows Marco backing up, and the lawsuit states he parked against the curb outside his relative鈥檚 house, in an area where it is legal to park. Marco then stood on the sidewalk across the street from his son and Shimanek, where he continued to film the interaction, the lawsuit states.
Body cam video shows Shimanek directing another officer, Ankit Tomer, to watch Marco, before changing his mind.
鈥淏etter yet, arrest him,鈥� Shimanek said.
When Marco asked what he was being arrested for, Shimanek responded, 鈥淔or blocking the roadway.鈥�
Shimanek and Tomer pushed Marco to the ground and pepper sprayed him. Marco repeatedly begged for a towel to wipe away the spray, which he was denied, according to the lawsuit. In the video, Shimanek said he would get treatment at the jail. Shimanek later wiped himself with a towel from the back of a squad car, his body camera shows.
Sitting in the back of a squad car, Dillon told Shimanek, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 messed up, what you did to my dad.鈥�
The lawsuit alleges that the traffic stop was nothing more than an attempt to find narcotics, although police found nothing illegal in Dillon鈥檚 car.
鈥淥fficer Shimanek racially profiled Mr. Puente鈥檚 Hispanic son in what would be a failed attempt to find narcotics following a traffic stop and eventual arrest for making a wide right turn,鈥� the lawsuit states.
Two days after the incident, Keller Police Chief Brad Fortune apologized to Marco Puente in person, acknowledging that Shimanek and Tomer were wrong, according to the lawsuit.
, Keller Mayor Armin Mizani said the City Council is holding Tuesday鈥檚 meeting for a briefing on the incident.
鈥淭his incident underwent review by command staff within hours. All charges were dropped, the plaintiff was released from custody and fines related to the traffic stop reimbursed. Keller PD then proactively initiated an internal affairs investigation,鈥� Mizani said in the statement.
Mizani said the city released the body camera footage and the internal affairs complaint in the interest of transparency.
led to Shimanek being demoted from sergeant to officer, with the opportunity to reapply in one year. A petition calling for him and Tomer to be fired and criminally charged.
Got a tip? Email Miranda Suarez at msuarez@kera.org. You can follow Miranda on Twitter .
四虎影院 is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider . Thank you.
