Body cam video shows Dallas PD shooting that killed young mother of two
DALLAS - The attorney for the family of a young woman who was killed by Dallas police has serious concerns about the investigation of two officers' actions.
FOX 4 News obtained body camera video of the 2017 shooting. It shows a young mother of two being shot to death in a car she and her husband were sleeping in. Police say she rammed a police car and tried to run over officers.
An internal police investigation led to one officer being fired and indicted on a charge of aggravated assault on a public servant.
The video was so closely guarded that the Dawes family attorney Daryl Washington says the Dallas County District Attorney's Office put his civil case on hold until the criminal trial of the former Dallas police officer is over.
Washington says he didn't see the video until this week. He said what he saw is troubling.
Dash and body camera video show the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Genevive Dawes in January 2017. The video wasn’t shown to the grand jury until now.
It was 5 a.m. that day when Dallas police responded to a suspicious vehicle in an Old East Dallas apartment parking lot.
Dawes was in the driver's seat. She and her common-law husband, Vergilio Rosales, were sleeping in the SUV that police believe was stolen. The windows were fogged, and the doors were locked.
As Dawes started to back up, a squad car moved in to block it. The vehicle then went forward into a fence and then in reverse. That's when police say Officer Christopher Hess fired 13 rounds into the vehicle. Officer Jason Kimple fired once.
Rosales was not hit by gunfire surrenders, but Dawes was hit by multiple gunshots and died inside the car. The incident was captured on multiple cameras.
Hess told investigators he opened fire because he believed officers were in danger. However, the video does not show anyone behind the vehicle. The officers appeared to have moved to cover.
"The thing that was just so devastating was to see shots fired at that vehicle. He stopped and he started shooting at that vehicle again,” Washington said. “It was just a frightening situation for them, the way they were approached. These officers had no idea if they had babies in that car. They just start shooting. They just opened up on them."
Officer Hess was fired from the department. Six months later, a grand jury indicted Hess on one count of aggravated assault by a public servant.
Officer Kimple, who fired one shot, was suspended but not terminated. A grand jury declined to indict him. He remains on the Dallas police force.
"Extremely frustrated. I mean, he violated the Dallas Police deadly force policy. He shot his gun,” Washington said. “Officers are responsible for every bullet that comes out that gun."
Washington says officer Kimple should have been fired and charged like Hess.
Mary Dawes is now raising Dawes' two little girls.
"I miss my daughter. She was my best friend,” Mary said. “We have her girls, but it's been really hard for everybody. Truly hard."
Mary says the video is difficult to watch and is praying for justice.
"Everybody is going to have their opinion based on what they see in the video,” she said. “But the bottom line is my daughter was killed in that car. She was shot more times than I've seen anybody killed. I just want her to get the justice she deserves."
Hess was a 10-year veteran of the department. His trial is currently scheduled for December 3. If convicted, he faces between 5 and 99 years in prison.