Keller City Council has scheduled a special meeting Tuesday to discuss a controversial police traffic stop and complaints of excessive force that led to a federal lawsuit.
On August 25, Dillon Puente was driving to his grandmother’s house when Keller’s police sergeant. Blake Shimanek lured him in and accused him of making a wide turn.
The city of Keller on Wednesday released a video with control camera and body camera of the incident.
Shimanek can be heard in the video asking Puente why he opened the window and acted like a “suspect.”
Seconds later, Puente was handcuffed.
That’s when Puente’s father, Marco, came up and started recording video on his cell phone.
“Hey, fly,” Shimanek told him.
“This is my father,” Dillon Puente told the agent.
“He’s about to be arrested for blocking the road if he doesn’t park and get out,” Shimanek told Marco Puente.
The video from the control camera showed that it did not block the road at all and that it had stopped next to the curb.
Regardless, Marco Puente parked on the street and returned to the scene, still recording, and stood on the sidewalk in front of his son and Shimanek.
The sergeant instructed his security officer, Ankit Tomer, to arrest Marco Puente “for blocking the road.”
“This guy is arresting me for being here,” Marco Puente said as the two officers threw him to the ground.
Then the situation worsened further. Tomer pepper sprayed Puente in the face.
“I don’t even do anything,” Puente said.
Officers decided to take Dillon Puente to jail for making a wide turn and his father for resisting arrest and interfering with police.
Marco Puente repeatedly complained about the pepper spray, said he could not breathe, and called for medical help.
“I’m suffocating with my own mucus,” he said. “Wipe me (my face) with my shirt, please.”
But it was more than 15 minutes later when doctors met him at Keller Prison and he received help cleaning himself and washing his face.
“My reaction remains the same,” Marco Puente said in an interview Thursday. “I don’t know why I was arrested for filming there, other than I didn’t like it.”
Two days after the incident, Puente said Keller’s police chief apologized, agreed to leave all charges and even reimburse his son’s fine for making a wide turn.
“He met me, shook my hand and apologized to me,” Marco Puente said.
The chief demoted the sergeant. Shimanek is an officer.
Marco Puente has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court, calling officers Shimanek and Tomer.
The lawsuit alleges that Shimanek was targeted by Dillon Puente, 23, because he was a young Latino and falsely believed he had drugs in the car. No drugs were found.
“I don’t think I need to have contact with the public right now,” Puente’s attorney, Scott Palmer, said. “Maybe a table job to really think about their actions because they have consequences.”
James Roberts, Palmer’s partner, agreed.
“They didn’t do anything to help him after they used pepper spray,” Roberts said, “they knew he was in pain. They were able to help him and did nothing.”
Lawyers said the agents’ own videos are their best evidence.
Keller police chief Brad Fortune did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Mayor Armin Mizani posted a message on the city’s website saying police “must work continuously to strengthen” the standards and announced that the city council will hold a special meeting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
“I look forward to sharing more information with residents after this discussion,” Mizani said.