The mother of Daniel Brumley says she will file a civil lawsuit against the city of Fort Worth, its police department, and officer Chris Jones after a Tarrant County grand jury chose not to indict Jones on Wednesday.
“There has to be justice,” said Brumley’s mother, Jessica Castillo. “I can’t live like this, knowing that man [Jones] thinks it’s okay to kill my son the way he did. He killed him like a damn dog.”
Tarrant County district attorney officials said the grand jury made the right decision based on the evidence.
“We felt like it was handled properly and we’re in agreement with the grand jury’s decision,” Chief of Criminal Division Larry Moore said. “There is no case. When a grand jury chooses not to take action against a police officer, there is nothing that goes forward as far as any criminal prosecution.”
Jones allegedly saw a car driven by Brumley run a stop sign on Jan. 17. The traffic stop prompted a chain of events that led to Brumley’s death and raised suspicion about Jones’ behavior. The officer pulled over the 27-year-old father of seven and asked him to get out of the car at about 4 a.m. after Brumley was driving home after a date.
Jones said Brumley attacked him with a knife. The officer shot Brumley four times, including twice in the back and once in the head at a downward angle. Jones was later treated and released for stab wounds to his leg at a local hospital.
“How is it right for [Jones] to stand over my son and shoot him in the head?” Castillo said. “The officer had already shot him twice and he was down. And then he shoots him in the head? How is that justified?”
She suspects the grand jury was swayed by Brumley’s prior criminal record rather than the evidence. Brumley’s relatives said the young man had been reborn in recent years, was working a fulltime job, and was doing well.
“It makes me sick that they didn’t care about what he was now,” Castillo said. “He was into church and doing so good.”
Two witnesses, watching from different porches nearby, said Brumley showed no resistance prior to being shot. The witnesses also said Jones acted suspiciously after the shooting, pacing furiously until backup arrived, and then falling to the ground and claiming injuries.
Later, one of the witnesses reported feeling intimidated by police during questioning afterward, and moved out of her house for awhile. Both witnesses testified before the grand jury.
Step away from The Obvious.
The prosecutor said Brumley tested positive for meth and pot. The family’s attorney Sepulveda saw the autopsy report and presumably shared its contents with the family. What did it say about drugs? Was he dirty or not? If he was, it flies in the face of the family’s claim that he had been “reborn”. It’s understandable that the family grieves; but for the Weekly to repeatedly give uncritical voice to their sundry grievances is unprofessional.
The autopsy report listed methamphetamine but no pot in the blood. The Weekly reported this in April.
What’s unprofessional in this stinking, incendiary episode Mariposa, is the lying Pig and his self-serving, inbred accomplices, including you, who are empowered to kill a citizen, scratch their ass, whistle a tune, and walk away free as a breeze. All that was required after this unwitting tragedy is that the liars take a polygraff and the problem was solved. A twelve-year old child can figure this out. It is unrealistic to expect anyone concerned with this tragedy to be decieved. It’s much more than impractical, in fact it’s diabolical, to allow deviant, self entitled cops to shoot down citizens and then lie and connive and walk away smiling. What goes around comes around. My sweet bird-dog Roxy has more honor,virtue, and morality than the lot of you lying, snakey frauds.
The prosecutor and the police have a stake in using evidence to clear the officer often time that involves fabricating and fudging evidence. So what they provide has to be checked by third and fourth independent parties who have no stake in the outcome of the results.
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This entire story is very sad on several counts and similar stories are playing themselves out across the nation where police look for vulnerable victims to arrest because without warm bodies in jail they themselves become obsolete. Policing has adopted an economic model where without certain activity it cannot thrive on a fundamental business level. The FWPD has unique economic incentives in place which allow it to operate on level in which the business community, the Tarrant County Bar Association and ALL departments of the City of Fort Worth have a stake in preserving the its status (the police) as the entity that actually runs this city.
Jeff Prince has to report the facts as the police see them and often times they make things up as they go along and he has to report them like that. Why? See the previous paragraph. He does not have the stature and presence to act outside of the influence of local police and the city council. Why? See the previous paragraph. Because if he reports the actual facts that are contrary to the evidence, where it involves the police they will black list him and they will not be allowed to work with or talk with him. Police are very good at organizing to create conspiracies. If a reporter cannot talk to the major players on a story they’re going to have to move to writing reviews on Restaurants or something else.
Independent investigators are working on numerous journal articles and investigative reporting on the FWPD, because the level of corruption and fraud is immense. In their stories posted on Face Book they do not interview the police officers with the FWPD for two reasons. First they are familiar with the level of lies and manipulation by the police it’s what they do best, and why ask to be manipulated and scammed when the evidence alone treated by forensics researchers can arrive at the truth? Having said that it is easy to tell if indeed Mr. Brumley put a knife to the Officer. Produce the knife, show it to his friends and family and ask them the obvious question, “Have you seen this before”? And show me the photographs of the officer’s wounds taken then and now. That coupled with the Officer seen pacing back and forth adjacent to the police car after the shooting, tells you what happened. What the Officer said took place never happened. The evidence is not there.
No news media other than the Weekly looked into this story. Police shared little information about the shooting for nine months. Trying to piece together what happened isn’t easy when police don’t talk, which is their custom, and that’s understandable during an investigation. Still, few relatives can wait patiently to find out what happened to a loved one for that long. The info shared publicly by police was questioned by witnesses. The family still has legitimate questions that haven’t been answered. The grand jury hearing is closed to the public. The family says a civil suit might reveal some of those answers. Brumley led a checkered life and had a police record. Law and life can be messy and complicated. Ignoring all but the clear and obvious stories isn’t the answer. Our coverage of the Brumley case surely wasn’t perfect. Nor was it unprofessional. The city has a paper willing to wade into the murk to seek the truth that isn’t easily found.
The lead story capitalized on this asserted discrepancy: The family said FWPD told them that the cop noticed that Brumley had “bloody hands”. The family raised various arguments challenging this. (Was there blood on his cell phone? Was there blood in his car?) Now you’re silent on the “bloody hands” issue. What’s up with that?
In the 1st story (you’ve done, what, FIVE stories now?) you relayed one elderly man’s quip that the FW cop was dressed like a commando and the man didn’t approve of that because it reminded him of the uniforms Mexican cops wear. It seemed that in each story you raised every possible argument to discredit FWPD. All directly or impliedly charged racism. Apparently there are Hispanics on the grand jury, because now the family seems to claim that this case wasn’t fairly reviewed because of Brumley’s criminal past.
You’re right in noting that police departments are slow to release details in these cases. But the fact that only one side is talking does not justify running with whatever story that side spoon feeds you.
In one story, the family opined that after a police killing, the police department should be required to promptly send community relations officers to the family’s home to explain why their family member was killed. That would surely create a volatile situation, no? Should such officers be armed? Would their being armed raise or lower volatility?
Contentions like this undermined the family’s credibility from the outset IMO.
Cops are really, really partial to lie machines, Mr. Hoff. Sit the lying Pig down, wire him up, Bingo…you’re got the answers. Why not, Sir, what’s to hide. Why don’t the lying, stinking Pigs demand it? Whose on first? Why hide like the other rat-lying killers, Sir? Don’t you think citizens deserve police that are not lying, stinking rats? I’ve got your undermining here swinging.
And what about the knife? The Weekly did EIGHT stories on this (counting a short blurb on 4/15/2015). In three of them, family members said Brumley NEVER CARRIED A KNIFE. Coupled with their claim that the COP ACTED SUSPICIOUSLY after the killing, they strongly implied that the cop fabricated justification for the shooting by stabbing himself and planting the knife beside Brumley’s body. So what about the knife? Surely FWPD investigated this angle. Was the knife dusted for fingerprints? Was it traced to Brumley or not?
Before filing a civil action the family might want to ask around to confirm their belief that Brumley never carried a knife. In a civil trial, there won’t be 12 Jeff Princes sitting on the jury ready to believe anything the family tells them.
Police told FW Weekly that Brumley had blood on his hands at the time he was pulled over, which is what concerned Officer Chris Jones from the beginning. The person who was with Brumley just before he was pulled over said there was no blood on his hands when he left her house a couple of minutes earlier. They continued texting each other after Brumley was pulled over. If he had bloody hands, there could be blood on the phone. The phone was kept for evidence. Did it have blood on it? Good question. A witness didn’t see a knife lying on the ground after the killing occurred, but noticed it later. Maybe the witness overlooked it, maybe not. Were fingerprints on the knife? Good question. The autopsy showed Brumley had deep slices on four fingers of his right hand. How’d they get there? These and many other questions that you’re asking are the same questions that have been asked of police from the beginning and still haven’t been answered. The family’s questions and requests for information represent their desire to find out what happened.
According to the 1st story: A high-ranking police official was eating at Enchiladas Ole not long afterward, and Perez [the proprietor and Brumley’s friend] approached him with her concerns about the case. . . . Perez stated: “I was told by [the police official] that one thing the officer was suspicious of was that the young man had bloody hands when he pulled him over,” she said. “The officer was suspicious about what kind of crime he’d committed.” The official was not available for comment as this story went to press.
In the first story, the “bloody hands” comment was supposedly made by FWPD to Mary Perez but FWPD wouldn’t talk to the Weekly. Now you say FWPD made the “bloody hands” statement to the Weekly. I don’t think so.
Look! WHY would the cop have made such a statement? After making initial contact with Brumley, the cop did not NEED a “bloody hands” ground (probable cause) to run Brumley’s data through the crime database. The cop would have searched the database WITHOUT “bloody hands” — that’s what cops DO in a traffic stop. This whole “bloody hands” story has likely snowballed from Perez misunderstanding whatever the officer told her at the restaurant. But you’ve made it into a material issue in the case.
Your first story stated: Police Det. William Hix said in a written response to Fort Worth Weekly’s questions . . . “On the morning this incident occurred, the officer, who is assigned to the K9 Unit, saw David [sic] Brumley run a stop sign, and a traffic stop was initiated for the observed violation,” Hix wrote. “After making contact with David Brumley and collecting identifying information, it was determined that he was wanted for warrants related to unpaid traffic citations and a warrant from the state attorney general’s office for unpaid child support.” This is confusing to Brumley’s relatives. He’d just been in jail for warrants and was told they’d been cleared. Last week, they asked an attorney to check to see if Brumley had warrants. The attorney found none.
Once again, the family called out FWPD as liars. But there WERE warrants as you conceded in a later column. It just seems that at every turn, the family disputed each and every argument in defense of the cop. No grand jury and no civil jury is going to do this.
I’d heard second-hand information about police saying that Brumley’s hands were bloody when he was pulled over. Later, I asked police Capt. Charlie Ramirez about the bloody hands. This was a direct question that I asked him in person while we were standing two feet apart in the parking lot of Enchiladas Ole after a community meeting. Ramirez told me that the arresting officer became alarmed after seeing that Brumley’s hands were bloody. That’s a fact, a fact that raises more questions. That’s what this is about, unanswered questions. I also asked Ramirez about the arresting officer being treated and released on the same night for his stab wounds, and asked about the severity of the wounds. Ramirez said they were significant and severe stab wounds to the officer’s leg. The officer has never spoken publicly about this shooting. Hospital records aren’t public information. If you think I haven’t worried about questioning an officer’s integrity after he’s been stabbed, you’re wrong. I’ve wrestled with this story from the beginning. Police want evidence when they’re investigating something. So do news media. So do families. If Chris Jones were willing to sit down with FW Weekly and describe what happened that night, his story would be reported with care, dignity, and open mindedness.
If the lying Pig was not a cowardly, self-entitled, worm he would have demanded a Polygraff immediately, because he is aware that his Department uses them daily to sort truth from fiction and bad guys from decent citizens. Cops do that because the devices work. Only a lying, black-hearted, Peckerwood, cowardly, ass-wipe cop would refuse if he was innocent. What’s wrong with you? Fool! You know this, you’re just a Tea-Bagging, half-wit, flake. Grow up, get a life, quit smoking that crap.
No-one wants to sit down with FW Weekly because for years of its existence, they continue to fabricate crap up and lie. It’s been a constant thing for years from this crappy news media outlet.
YOU are a stone LIAR and flakier than a box of Post Toasties. Everyone, even the average Teabagging flakes, trust and respect the Weekly and it’s numerous national awards for it’s reporting. Get a life, half-wit.
Only piss-ants, Pigs, Peckerwoods, and pole-cats are slimey enough, sorry enough, rotten and stinking enough, to refuse a Polygraff under these circumstances. The Fort Worth Police Department causes poor, under-educated, easily entimidated, helpless citizens to go for them daily, nothing new to see here.The cop is a lying, snakey coward and deviant excuse for an honorable human. The rats compadres, mostly foot-washing, Tea-Bagging loons, are smiling and slapping their legs today. The lot of them aren’t worth a bucket of spit. They have zero honor, and so it goes, certainly nothing new to see here in Cowtown. A curse on the Pigs, the Peckerwoods, the putrid lot of the lying losers.
I moved to Fort Worth in 1950. Three buddies of mine, who were graduated with me from High School in the 60’s made Fort Worth Cops after doing time in the military. One of those heros, while making his rounds on the midnight shift, discovered a door kicked in on his appointed rounds, at a shop on the short North-Side. He looked around inside and outside the firm and finding no one, loaded up his Police vehicle’s trunk to overflowing with merchandise and valuables from the store. He was busted when other officers discovered his stinking ass the same night. He was quietly instructed to resign and he of course did. The loot was never returned to the owner, and he went to work for me at my business the next week. Everyone on his midnight shift became aware of this stinking behavior my Police pals told me. Cops look out for Cops. they do today, they did then. Some of them today steal, cheat on & beat their wives, lie like a rug, and in truth and fact are rotten human beings. This current lying, rat-cop can and should clear this stinking travesty in an hour….take a Polygraph Test. Both the rat-lying killer of this young citizen and every other cop in Fort Worth by now are aware of the truth, and the stinking, cowardly indecency of our Fort Worth Police Dept. There’s nothing new to see here, and so it goes. May the slimey, black-hearted bastards reap what they sew. Not one of the heros appear to have the backbone and grit of my sweet bird-dog Roxy. Liars and cowards and childish rats are what we have for Police in Cowtown, and so it goes. We’ll just kick back & live with it, nothing new to see here from the big-shots, Baggers, cowards, and killers.