Sunday, December 10, 2017

‘I WANT THEM TO SMELL THE RUST ON THEIR BARS’

Mother's outrage after three cops are charged with misdemeanors in death of her unarmed son who was restrained after calling 911 for help

Associated Press and Snejana Farberov

Daily Mail
December 8, 2017

Three Dallas police officers have been indicted by a grand jury following the death last year of a man they had arrested, handcuffed and pinned down for more than 10 minutes.

The Dallas Police Department says Sgt. Kevin Mansell, 48, officer Danny Vasquez, 32, and a third officer known only as 'John Doe' were indicted on misdemeanor charges of deadly conduct, which means putting someone in imminent danger of physical harm.

The counts stem from the arrest of 32-year-old Anthony 'Tony' Timpa on August 10, 2016, due to erratic behavior.

Police say the Rockwell man, who had called 911 saying he was suffering from anxiety and schizophrenia, was combative and aggressive and subjected to physical restraint. He later died at a hospital.

The Dallas County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide and said he died of cardiac arrest caused by the toxic effects of cocaine and stress from physical restraint.

Upon learning of the officers’ indictments, Vicki Timpa, Tony's mother, expressed surprise that each of the cops was charged with a misdemeanor count carrying a sentence of up to a year in county jail and a fine of up to $4,000.

‘They need to go to jail,’ she said. ‘I want them to smell the rust on the bars.’

The incident began unfolding after Timpa, who was high on cocaine, summoned police and ran out of an adult film store and into traffic on Mockinbird Lane in Dallas at around 10.30pm.

Two private security guards from local businesses restrained the barefoot and panic-stricken man for his own safety and waited for the arrival of police, according to a Custodial Death Report.

When five Dallas police officers responded to the scene, they placed Timpa in their own handcuffs.

According to documents obtained by the Dallas Morning News and NBC5, an officer pinned his knee on Timpa's back and kept him restrained for 14 minutes while he repeatedly pleaded with them, ‘Don’t hurt me.’

When the 32-year-old man became unresponsive, the cops allegedly poked fun at him and waited for several minutes before performing CPR. Less than an hour after he was placed in handcuffs, Timpa was dead.

Mrs Timpa and her lawyers have been pressuring the police department to release the body camera footage from the night of the incident, but officials have declined to make the video public, citing an ongoing investigation.

According to his obituary, Tony Timpa worked as a director of operations for two companies owned by his family and is survived by a young son.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Most cops are not mental health professionals. The mental health calls were dumped on LE when funding was cut to address mental health properly. If the public wants cops to treat mental health then they should be issued Thorazine that can be administered like an epipen.

You don't call a cop when you need your tonsils removed. Why doesn't anyone see the dilemma?