An off-duty police officer is accused of hitting two bar workers and pulling a gun on them because they refused to let him back inside after closing.
Sgt. Hector Roa, 37, was charged Sunday with two counts of aggravated assault, Dallas police said. Police said Roa, a 14-year veteran currently assigned to central patrol, has been placed on administrative leave pending criminal and administrative investigations.
Matthew Kirchmeyer, a bouncer at the bar, said they were closing about 2 a.m. Sunday when Roa, who had been at the bar, tried to get back inside. He said Roa was in plain clothes and didn't identify himself as a police officer.
"He kind of tried to muscle his way back inside," Kirchmeyer told The Dallas Morning News. Kirchmeyer said that when he and the bar owner would not let Roa in, Roa hit both of them.
"I pushed him to the ground," Kirchmeyer said.
He said Roa then pulled a gun out of his waistband.
Officer Roa said the reason he was behaving so badly is because the bouncer called him a racial epithet. Is that an excuse, do you think? Can this kind of incident ever be excused?
What about the charge? Would aggravated assault be enough to get him kicked off the police force and barred from owning firearms in the future? Is anything less than that appropriate in a case like this?
Please leave a comment.
Officer Roa should no longer be an officer or a gun owner.
ReplyDeleteAztecRed, I'm glad we agree on that one.
ReplyDelete"Officer Roa said the reason he was behaving so badly is because the bouncer called him a racial epithet. Is that an excuse, do you think?"
ReplyDeleteName calling is never an excuse. Don't they still teach "sticks and stones" in school? They used to.
Officer Roa--exactly the kind of guy whom the Brady Campaign says should have a monopoly on being armed in Starbucks.
ReplyDeletethe officer should also go to an AA meeting and more people reading and commenting on this story should think about the billions of dollars wasted in Iraq and Afghanistan and the deteroriating living standards for Americans.
ReplyDeleteil principe wrote: more people reading and commenting on this story should think about the billions of dollars wasted in Iraq and Afghanistan
ReplyDeleteWhat makes you think the commentors on these stories approve of our troops being over there? They are simply posting relevant comments to the stories at hand. If you want comments about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, have Mike make posts about them.
il,
ReplyDeleteOnly me and maybe Sadam Hussein thought the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a bad idea. Not sure what that has to do with this story....
RuffRidr, I do occasionally post about Afghanistan and Iraq. I'll have to do so again it seems.
ReplyDelete