Reports have indicated that a man died after being apprehended by Dallas police. He had suffered a medical emergency at the Dallas County Jail.
Now, the Dallas Police Department and the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office have placed the blame on each other.
On Friday, July 15, around 11:15 p.m., Luis Angel Perez was taken into custody. He didn’t wait for a traffic stop an officer attempted to perform in the 3000 block of Gulden Lane in West Dallas. The officer then saw that his vehicle wasn’t registered and suspected that he was driving while intoxicated.
After pursuing the car for a short distance, Perez stopped and his car was searched as the officer had already requested backup. The officer noted that he had observed beer cans inside of the vehicle and the smell of alcohol. He also documented that Perez couldn’t follow simple instructions, and his eyes were “glossed over and glassy.”
Another officer that had responded to the scene had also made the same observations.
Perez had disclosed to officers that he had been at a billiards room and had been transporting his friends home. He stated that he hadn’t been drinking but couldn’t tell officers any details about the beer cans.
A passenger told authorities that Perez had two to three beers at the billiards room. In total, 24 beers that were ‘cold to the touch’ were found in the vehicle.
When field sobriety tests were conducted on Perez, he failed them and refused to take a breathalyzer test. After being taken to Parkland Hospital, his blood was taken, but the results haven’t been released.
When he was placed in the Dallas County Jail, around 6 a.m., Perez had a medical emergency and was transported to the hospital again. Officers noted that there had been no indication of a problem prior to them leaving him.
On Monday, July 18, Perez was declared deceased at Parkland Hospital, around 7:30 a.m.
At the time of his death, Perez had been in the custody of the Dallas Sheriff’s Office, the Dallas Police Department has said. The police say that Perez hadn’t been arraigned on the DWI charge he was apprehended for. To add, he had been released from custody on July 17 after the said emergency, they stated.
Officials say that the sheriff’s office was asked to review the death, and that the officers who had arrested Perez weren’t in the wrong and are not being investigated.
The sheriff’s office has said that Perez was in Dallas Police’s custody at the time of the medical emergency.
A part of the Jail Population Committee, Commissioner John Wiley Price said, “It clearly sounds as though he was in our custody,” when referring to Perez and the sheriff’s department. Wiley has called for more information regarding the incident.
“Regardless of whose custody he was in, the death needs to be investigated,” Wiley commented.
