To Chase or Not To Chase?

Tuesday morning a big wreck tied up South R.L. Thornton Freeway in Dallas.  It was caused by a school zone traffic infraction suspect who was being chased by Dallas County Precinct 5 Constable Deputies. 

Dallas County Constable and Sheriff Deputies have a much different chase policy than Dallas Police Officers.  The city forbids its officers from chasing suspects for traffic violations.  The city policy would not have permitted pursuing a school zone offender onto a busy freeway.

In April Dallas City Councilmembers asked Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle to talk with Constables and the Dallas County Sheriff about adopting the city policy for their work inside the city limits.  The request came after a March 28th pursuit in the Dallas City Limits by deputies with a different Dallas County Constable in which innocent people were also injured.  The suspect in that March chase was shot to death by deputies after he shot at them.  However, it began over an inspection sticker infraction, another violation for which Dallas Police Officers would not be allowed to chase.

Tuesday, City Councilman Steve Salazar repeated his request that Police Chief David Kunkle talk with the Constables and Sheriff. 

Kunkle did not return my message left through his spokesman Tuesday.  Precinct 5 Constable Jaime Cortes told me Kunkle never spoke to him about the issue since Councilmembers’ April request.  Cortes says he feels comfortable with his current policy and sees no need to change.

After out 5pm story I heard from accident victim David Rush.  We did not know the background of the chase when we first spoke to him at the scene.  Rush says it sounds like the wreck should never have happened and he supports the city’s policy. 

Here’s a link to our 5pm story:

http://video.nbc5i.com/player/?id=287847

Click comments above and tell me what you think??  Does the city or the county have the best policy for public safety?

 

STINKING DALLAS GARBAGE!

Dallas garbage must smell far worse than the garbage in other North Texas Cities.  For years now, Dallas Councilmembers have insisted on twice a week garbage pick up, saying that Dallas residents just could not accept once a week pick up like other cities have. 

 

Again Wednesday, Dallas Councilmembers declined to set a schedule for switching city wide to once a week garbage pick up.  In the past several years Dallas has boosted recycling, most recently with big blue carts in which people can dump all their recyclable items without sorting them.  Most of the city only gets recycling collection every other week.  Some residents in those areas complain the recycling bins are overflowing by the second week.

Several parts of the city have been testing once a week garbage pick up combined with once a week recycling collection.  In these areas garbage volume has declined and recycling volume has increased.

The city staff proposes to expand the test program to most of North Dallas over the next couple of years, but has no schedule for the rest of the city.  Here’s the briefing the city council heard about it Wednesday:

http://www.dallascityhall.com/council_briefings/Briefings0808/once_weekly_service_082008.pdf

One member told me beforehand that once a week trash collection and weekly recycling would go city wide within two years.  But, given the chance to make that happen, members instead took no action and decided only to talk about it some more in the future.  Some other members told me they still want twice a week pick up.

Here’s our 5pm story:

http://video.nbc5i.com/player/?id=286639

From up here “On The Fence” (above the stink) I would really like to know what you think!!

 

Chopper 5, In The Palm of My Hand!

On vacation recently, I visited the Newseum in Washington, DC.  Very prominent hanging from the ceiling is Chopper 5!

It’s a very cool museum where you can be a TV reporter!

I figure there’s not much chance for this guy.

But the place is filled with all sorts of cool stuff including part of the Berlin Wall.

There are many museums in DC and this one is not free, $20 a person.  But it was neat.

 

THE POWER COMPANY’S MYSTERY LOCATION!

We’ve heard from several people complaining about skyrocketing power bills from a Texas retail electric provider called Dynowatt.  The company’s bills say that it has a “Texas Office” in Southlake. 

We went looking for the office Thursday and found nothing that said Dynowatt at the address.

We did find a place called PostNet!  It’s one of those mailbox stores.  There is NO Dynowatt ”office” in Texas.  The owner of the PostNet store told us he sees plenty of people looking for Dynowatt.

Dynowatt is owned by another company in Ohio.  A spokesperson there denied trying to deceive customers and told us the company has rented a real office in Southlake.  We visited that place and found it is one of those shared secretary kind of offices.  The spokesperson says the company is primarily geared to deal with customers by telephone.  The company is offering customers with variable rate bills the opportunity to switch to locked in rate plans with a $100 dollar credit on the next bill.  Several customers who tipped us off to all this say they want to switch companies instead.

 

Uptown Suspect, A BUSY Burglar!

I discovered today that the suspect arrested Monday in a rash of 30 Uptown Dallas burglaries has a long criminal record.  He was already on 5 years probation for burglary. 

33 year old Dustin Kienzlen received that sentence on June 10th for a Plano burglary.  He was arrested again Monday by the Tarrant County Auto Crimes Task Force after a Hurst Police officer found a car stolen from Dallas outside Kienzlen’s apartment.  Task Force officers tell me they immediately suspected him of stealing the car because they had dealt with him before.  His landlord told me he’d lived at the Hurst apartment since 2002, always paid his rent on time and never caused any disturbances there.  But Task Force officers got a warrent and inside his apartment they found all sorts of loot from the Uptown Dallas burglaries. 

The rash of 30 burglaries has been going on since April.  An engagement ring was stolen over the July 4th weekend from the Uptown apartment of a woman whose fiance died in Iraq.  That ring was found in the Hurst man’s apartment. 

Dallas police last week released surveillance photos of two suspects in their cases.  

Police are not sure if Kienzlen is either one of those two men in the photos.  More suspects are definately still at large and the investigation is not over.

Here’s our 5pm story:

http://video.nbc5i.com/player/?id=278903

 

Freeway Shooting! Random Road Rage Victim or Target?

One of the busiest freeways in North Texas was the scene of a drive-by shooting around 4am Monday morning.  It happened on I-35E Stemmons Freeway northbound at Market Center Boulevard.  Even at 4am, that’s a busy road.  The victim says another car pulled up beside him and started shooting through his passenger side window.  Police say the victim was grazed on the ear by a bullet.   

The victim is 33 year old Jamien Smith of Dallas.  He has a prior arrest record for Marijuana Possession in 2002 and 2007.  Police say he was unable to give them any description of the suspect or the suspect’s car, but that is not unusual in a case where a victim is trying to avoid gunfire.

 Smith was listed in fair condition Monday at Parkland Hospital.  He declined to talk with us there.  Police say they are still investigating whether the victim was being targeted by the shooter or whether he was the innocent victim of some perceived “road rage” conflict with the shooter earlier on the freeway.  Either way, it is gunfire in a very public place that could have wounded other drivers, too.

 

Update: Bullets and Babies!

Police say a Sunday night shooting spree in Garland and Mesquite left several innocent people wounded.  Bullets flew in three locations and in each one police say a dark colored sedan was seen pulling up when the shots were fired. 

A four month old baby was in the back seat of one car.  There was glass all over her car seat from the bullet shattered rear window but she was fine.  Her mother was cut by glass.  Her mother’s boyfriend driving the car was shot in the wrist.  That was around 5pm Sunday night on Buckingham at Shilo in Garland.

In a pick up truck, the driver was shot in the stomach.  His 9 year old son in the passenger seat was not injured.  That was around 9pm Sunday on Walnut at Plano Road in Garland.  Police say both cars were just sitting at stop lights when the suspect pulled up beside them going the opposite direction and started shooting.

The third shooting was around 10pm Sunday on the I-635 exit ramp to Oates in Mesquite.  There the witness saw the dark sedan pull up and heard gunshots but was not hit.  Police beleive all of the shootings are random acts of violence.  They do not have any connections between the victims at this time. 

Garland police want help to catch the suspect or suspects before random shots fly again.

7-1 UPDATE:  2 more shootings.. one in Plano on Tuesday 7-1,  one in Richardson on Monday.. all believed to be related, random.  Now police in all those cities are investigating, seeking help!

7-2 UPDATE: Garland police Tuesday night arrested Thai-An Huu Nguyen, 22 years old of Garland.

He was driving a dark color Honda Prelude, similar to what witnesses described. 

Still no motive know for what he’s accused of doing.

 

Want to See The Place Oswald & Ruby Made Infamous?

Old Dallas City Hall on Harwood Street will be renovated for a new UNT Law School. The building is where Lee Harvey Oswald was killed by Jack Ruby on live TV in 1963.

For years now the basement sallyport where Ruby confronted Oswald has been closed and off limits to the public.

The jail cell where Oswald slept the night before he died has never been open to visitors.

UNT Chancellor Lee Jackson says UNT’s plans for the Law School include opening those sites to the public. He says it will not be part of a formal museum, but will be preserved and available for people to walk in and visit free of charge.

Dallas is spending $16 million to repair the aging building before the state takes it over. The first public law school for North Texas is a big plum, too. Houston has 3 public law schools. The two law schools in North Texas are at private universities with much more expensive tuition.

Here’s a link to our 6pm story:

http://video.nbc5i.com/player/?id=269923

Dallas visitors we met Thursday at the grassy knoll said they would also like to visit the Oswald murder location.  A history teacher from Oregon walked up to me while we were preparing our report outside Old City Hall asking directions to where Oswald was killed.  He was disappointed that he could not go in and see it yet.  What do you think??

 

Fix them or pay! On the last day..

One of the largest crowds I’ve ever seen in the Dallas City Council Chamber jammed the Wednesday meeting and lined up to speak about a new animal control law.

Supporters and opponents demonstrated outside city hall before the meeting over the provision that requires animals be spayed or neutered. Owners must pay a $70 fee for those that remain unaltered.

Wednesday’s agenda was also one of the longest I have ever seen in 9 years of covering Dallas City Hall. It was the last business meeting before the City Council takes a July recess. (Wouldn’t a whole month off your job be nice??) The city seemed to be jamming a whole month of business into one meeting!

At first Mayor Tom Leppert tried to limit the animal control debate to just 15 minutes for each side because there was so much other business on the agenda. But Councilman Mitchell Rasansky complained about that and the others went along, allowing time to all the people who wanted to speak. With all the councilmembers comments the animal control debate lasted almost three hours. The councilmembers rarely limit their own comments, but this time Rasansky “called the question” twice! That’s a procedural move that ends the discussion and forces a vote. The city council has been discussing this issue for months. The members have had several chances to talk about it. Member Ron Natinsky tried to have the spay and neuter provision removed from the ordinance. That failed. Then the tougher ordinance passed. It also restricts dangerous animals and tethering of animals. Everyone agreed to those other parts.

Supporters believe sterilization will reduce pet over-population in Dallas. Strays are an enormous problem on the streets of many Dallas neighborhoods. Most animals taken to the City Shelter are put to sleep. Tons of animal remains are taken from the shelter to the landfill each year. Opponents believe the new rules will not be enforced, will not solve the problem, and unfairly charge responsible owners who are not to blame for strays wandering the streets of Dallas.

Here’s a link to my 5pm story:

http://video.nbc5i.com/player/?id=269314

What do you think???

 

Park and get TOWED!

For years neighbors along Lower Greenville in Dallas have complained about beer bottles and worse left in their yards after late night partying.

Now, expanded “RESIDENT PARKING ONLY” zones will help keep the visitors away on weekend nights.

Some neighbors complain it will forbid their friends from parking on their street, too.

Paul Fencl opposes the expanded zone saying the clubs and the fun they attract are what attracted him to the neighborhood years ago.

Activist Avi Adelman with the Belmont Neighborhood Association says he has more streets in mind to expand NPO even more around Lower Greenville.  Here’s a map of what’s been done so far:

What do you think??