By MELISSA VARGAS
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Posted on Fri, Dec. 07, 2007
Liveleak
A frame from the police car video shows the motorcycle just before it and the car collide. The motorcycle is on the left, just above the words "Watauga DPS."
Second officer collides with motorcycle
First officer initiates chase
WATAUGA -- Police car videos released by the Watauga Department of Public Safety show an officer's patrol car swerving into the path of a motorcycle carrying two people in August.
The officer, William Allen, says, "I hit him."
Seconds later, the officer who had been pursuing the motorcycle arrives at the crash scene and jumps out of his car, shouting, "What were you thinking?"
The videos raise further questions about the Department of Public Safety's claims that the motorcyclist ran a red light and that the officer did everything possible to avoid a collision.
The Aug. 25 collision severely injured the motorcycle passenger, Cynthia Arredondo, 31, who was thrown 60 feet and suffered severe head trauma, broken ribs, and leg and arm injuries. The driver, Derek Muzquiz, 25, was hospitalized for a week.
Watauga police officials have said the two officers were pursuing the motorcycle because Muzquiz had run a red light. The videos don't show him running a red light before the pursuit.
Release ordered
The city fought the release of the videos but was ordered to release them Nov. 30 by the Texas attorney general's office.
Watauga officials have not released the videos to the Star-Telegram, which requested them in September under the Texas Public Information Act. Watauga did provide them to KTVT/Channel 11, which provided them to the Star-Telegram.
In response to previous Star-Telegram reports about the collision, Police Chief Rande Benjamin suspended both officers involved for not following department policy. The Watauga department has declined to identify the officer who began the chase. Allen was providing backup when his car collided with the motorcycle.
Allen was suspended for 60 days without pay, and the officer who began the pursuit was suspended for 15 days without pay.
Benjamin did not return phone and e-mail requests seeking comment about the videos Thursday. City Manager Kerry Lacy was out of the office and could not be reached for comment.
City Councilman Jerry Adams said he had not seen the videos and had not heard anything about the case "in quite a while."
The crash
Allen's police car video shows him racing south on Rufe Snow Drive with his lights and siren on. When Allen turns west onto Chapman Road, he slows as he crosses into the oncoming traffic lane, the video shows.
The motorcycle is traveling toward Allen head-on, then veers to go around the police cruiser. Allen's car swerves into its path and hits the motorcycle.
The video from the pursuing officer's car begins at the intersection of U.S. 377 and Chapman Road, about a mile west of the collision site.
The patrol car is sitting behind the motorcycle, which is stopped at the traffic light with the left-turn signal flashing. When the traffic light turns green, the motorcycle turns east onto Chapman Road and the patrol car follows. At that point, the officer turns on his lights and siren, and the motorcycle speeds away.
As the officer gives chase, he speeds through two stop signs. As he nears Rufe Snow Drive, he can be heard telling Allen on the radio, "You've got him." Seconds later, Allen says on the radio, "I hit him."
The pursuing officer arrives, jumps out of his car and yells, "What were you thinking?" He runs to Arredondo's aid and calls for an ambulance.
No investigation
Arredondo is doing better but is still recovering from her injuries at an Arlington rehabilitation center, her aunt Margaret Burcie said Thursday.
Muzquiz was arrested in October on suspicion of evading arrest with a vehicle, a state jail felony. He was released on $2,500 bail.
Muzquiz's first court appearance was Nov. 5. Prosecutor Tasha Foster of the Tarrant County district attorney's office said she had not seen the chase video. To her knowledge, she said, no one in the district attorney's office is investigating the officers' actions.
Officials with the district attorney's office have said they don't generally investigate police unless someone first makes a complaint to the Texas Rangers or unless a police department makes a complaint to the district attorney.
MELISSA VARGAS, 817-685-3888
mvargas@star-telegram.com
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