DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF News) — Dallas Police are refuting reports of lawlessness at a South Dallas intersection.
Deputy Chief Vernon Hale says the department has actually added police to the area of Malcom X Boulevard and Ellie Faye Heggins Street to prevent problems on weekends. But an incident in the middle of last week has some citizens concerned that police are being apathetic.
“It is not lawless, as I’ve heard characterized in the media, at all,” Hale says. “We have good citizens down there, and yes we have people cruising.”
The cruising is in reference to a Facebook video posted from last week that shows street racers blocking off the intersection, driving recklessly, doing donuts, and causing large clouds of smoke. In the video, a police officer drives by and doesn’t stop.
Hale said the officer did not stop because he had a prisoner in the backseat, and that stopping would have been unsafe. It took Dallas Police roughly 30 minutes to respond to several 911 calls about the incident.
“As most people cruise and socialize, creating traffic incidents and crowd control incidents, this year we’ve taken several steps to reduce that traffic nuisance and crowding over the weekends.”
Hale pointed to things like shifting officers’ off-days so they can work on the weekends and adding bike officers to patrol the area. However, the incident happened on a Tuesday — one of the reasons Hale said there was a slow response time.
“We’ve not historically had issues in the area during the week,” Hale said.
