FORT WORTH, Texas _ The debate about the reinstatement of a Fort Worth police officer accused of violating the department's use-of-force policy during an arrest shouldn't be about race, says the officer's attorney and the leader of the police officers association.
Members of the minority community were upset about the decision to give Sgt. Kenneth Pierce, the supervising officer during the August 2017 arrest of an African-American woman, his job back. Some said the Pierce case was another example of an officer using excessive force against a minority citizen.
A Facebook post by Pierce's attorney, Terry Daffron, says those who are upset should get their facts straight before they talk.
The post reads in part: "All the haters and Race Baiters need to stop twisting the facts of this case to fit their false narrative and get their 15 minutes of fame. This case was never about race, it was about a person's interference with Public Duties and about whether the underlying arrest was lawful. It was sad to listen to those haters present get on their soapbox and speak to the media, making statements that were full of factual inaccuracies, false information, and assumptions ... so tired of people manufacturing their own truth for personal gain and personal agendas!!"
Daffron said that the post was meant to remind people of the facts of the case that were released to the public shortly after the arrest and that it was in response to incorrect comments being made to the media as well as inaccurate social media posts.
"Many of the facts of this case have been ignored or twisted to fit a specific narrative and I was simply pointing that out," Daffron said. "I do not think the truth was hidden from anyone. I just believe that opinions or statements should be based on facts."
Pierce had instructed a rookie officer to use a Taser on Dorshay Morris, 29, during the incident outside her apartment in east Fort Worth on Aug. 13, 2017. Morris had called 911 for help.
Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald said in 2017 that Pierce, a 22-year veteran of the department, became "impatient" and "initiated an unnecessary physical confrontation" with Morris. The specific charges against Pierce were neglect of duty, failure to supervise and violating the department's use-of-force policy.
Pierce is a good man and a steadfast Christian, said Manny Ramirez, president of the Fort Worth Police Officers Association. Making this a racial issue is absurd, he said.
"People are too quick to make a judgment," Ramirez said. "The real story here is that if a police officer is legally trying to detain you, you cannot resist. We have to have more respect for our officers than is being exhibited."
Another attorney viewed the post as an example of what many people have been saying for some time _ that we live in a divided America.
"We are seeing examples of tribalism in all of the arenas of our society right now," said Cody Cofer, a Fort Worth-based criminal defense attorney. "The Pierce reinstatement is viewed as a victory for us against them and I just don't think that is a constructive posture for us to take."
Cofer, who liked Daffron's post on Facebook, said people should not read too much into that. Daffron does a good job for her clients, Cofer said, but he said he was not necessarily endorsing her opinions.
"The 'like' was supporting a colleague, not weighing in on the issue," he said.
The public's understanding of the criminal justice system is minimal, despite the saturation of police procedural television and drama, according to Cofer.
"People are not that interested in reality," he said.
Both sides need to talk less, listen more, Cofer said.
"At the end of the day we give them (police) tremendous power," he said. "Whenever we question them to make sure they are not abusing that power they get defensive. Systematically making excuses for police misconduct if they don't live up to our standards because they are afraid or under pressure is not the answer."
Bill Lane, another Fort Worth attorney who has worked on high-profile cases with police officers as defendants, said sometimes people just like to be in front of a television camera.
"Sometimes they get on TV and it's all people hear about a case," Lane said. "News moves so fast now it's hard to keep up."
"Even when we are frustrated with each other, we want to be fair," said Charley Wilkison, CLEAT (Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas) executive director. And even murderers go to trial in the United States, Wilkison said. Pierce went to trial and the facts lined up in his favor, he said.
"The new normal for officers is that people will criticize their actions," Wilkison said. "There's a lot of work to be done, and yelling at one another may not be seen as progress, but it's part of the process."
