Thursday
Aug192004
Thursday, August 19, 2004 at 07:13AM
A grand jury declined to indict a Dallas police
lieutenant Wednesday who fatally shot an unarmed teenage car-burglary
suspect in March while working an off-duty security job. Lt. John
Dagen, a 28-year department veteran, told investigators that he thought
a passenger inside the car driven by Orlando Aranda, 18, was reaching
for a gun when he fired his weapon. Steve Sanderfer, an attorney
representing Mr. Aranda's family, said the ruling is further proof that
police and prosecutors do not vigorously pursue investigations when the
suspect is a police officer. "I do not believe the Dallas Police
Department ever truly investigated this as they would if it had been
someone who was not a Dallas police officer who had killed someone,"
Mr. Sanderfer said. Aranda died just a few days shy of his19th
birthday. The teenager and two others were allegedly breaking into a
car when Dagen spotted them. The lieutenant said one of the boys made a
threatening gesture, and fearing for his life Dagen opened fire,
shooting Aranda in the back of the head from 3 feet away. Aranda's
family said it was excessive force. "To take his life for a broken
window ... no, it's not justice," said aunt Laura Caudillio. [more 
] and [
more ]
- The last officer in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to be indicted for
a use-of-force-related death was a former Grand Prairie officer
who was found not guilty in a trial. Blake Hubbard was acquitted
in 1997 of criminal wrongdoing in the 1996 shooting death of Joe
Calloway, a mentally ill man the officer said lunged at a fellow
officer with a pocketknife. His indictment was the first in 25
years. [more ]
