Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle fired four police officers Monday morning, including a lieutenant who internal investigators concluded made a series of heated, profanity-laced calls to Waxahachie school officials.
Kunkle has fired 66 officers since he became chief in June 2004.
Dallas police Lt. Paul Wisdom's troubles began last May when he used a city phone to leave a profane message for David Nix, the principal of Waxahachie High School. Nix told investigators that he had a previous confrontation with Wisdom and that he was concerned about his and his wife's safety.
Wisdom told investigators that he didn't intend the message as a threat but only to express his displeasure.
Internal investigators concluded that he violated department policy when he used a city phone to leave a profane and intimidating message while on duty. In September, Wisdom was told he'd be suspended for three days over the incident.
On the same day that Wisdom received that suspension, he left another series of profane and intimidating messages for Nix and other school officials, police records show.
Wisdom told investigators that he made the second round of calls after his supervisor gave him a copy of the criminal trespass warning that had been issued by the school district. He also said he regretted the profanity he used in the voice mail, but said he felt like he had been baited into making the phone calls.
"I'm very disappointed in Chief Kunkle's lack of judgment and foresight," Wisdom said Monday after he was fired.
His wife, Velmea Wisdom, says her husband is being treated unfairly and that there are other officers, including supervisors, in the department who have done worse things and haven't lost their jobs.
She is a former Dallas police officer who is currently running for the Waxahachie school board.
Also fired:
•Police Officer Daniel Hageman, who was indicted last month after being accused of shooting at a woman's vehicle in Garland in what prosecutors say was a road-rage incident. Hageman, hired in 2001, is charged with deadly conduct in the May 2008 incident, a third-degree felony.
He has denied firing his weapon at the car. "I'm being falsely accused," he said in a brief interview after being fired. "I don't want that job back. I think the chances of me appealing are pretty slim."
•Senior Cpl. James Sims, 45, was fired after internal investigators concluded that he didn't pay his debts and that hot checks were written on his bank accounts. Two landlords obtained civil judgments against him after hot checks were written for his rent, records show.
Sims told internal investigators that he was having financial trouble and that he did not write all of the checks. He also stated that he unknowingly wrote hot checks on a closed account.
Sims said he plans to appeal his firing but declined to comment further. He was hired in 1988.
•Officer Jeffrey Fowler faces a felony charge of intoxication assault for an incident last month in which Fowler hit another car while driving near the intersection of Midway Road and Bonham Street. Takiyan Brown, a passenger in his pickup, was critically injured, suffering fractures to her skull, pelvis, ribs and spine as well as a lacerated kidney and liver, court records state.
When police arrived at the scene of the accident, Fowler smelled of alcohol, had bloodshot eyes, slurred his speech and was unsteady on his feet, records state.
In mid-January, Fowler was arrested on suspicion of public intoxication while he was off duty and riding in a vehicle that was involved in an accident in the Oak Lawn area on his 28th birthday. He was hired in 2007.
Fowler declined to comment.
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http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Dallas-Police-Chief-Fires-Misbehaving-Officers.html
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