Fort Worth, TX (WiredPRNews.com)—The June 2008 issue of D Magazine chose to label Dallas Police Officer Fernando Perez as ‘The Worst Cop in Dallas because two burglary suspects on a motorcycle chose to run and paid for it with their lives.
This scene began in the early morning hours of Sunday, Oct. 6, 2006 in the middle class neighborhood at LBJ Freeway and North Central Expressway, where Perez was patrolling. There had been string of car burglaries in the area had and Perez was looking for BMV (Burglary of a Motor Vehicle) suspects, possibly on a motorcycle. This is where motorcycle driver Taylor Hillis, 19, and passenger Maksym Roshchyn, 21, came into the officer’s view.
According to Officer Perez’ dash cam, the time was 2:31 am when he came upon the two suspects on a Harley Sportster. Roshchyn, the passenger, was wearing a backpack, which, police later discovered, contained an automatic weapon, a machete and tools commonly used for vehicle break ins.
After following the motorcycle for a few minutes, Perez turned on his red-and-blue flashing lights to signal Hillis and Roshchyn to pull over. Instead, Hillis chose to speed off toward the interchange of Highway 635 and Highway 75.
In the summer of 2006, the Dallas Police Department started a ‘no-chase’ policy. The only exceptions, according to the department, were for violent felons. In this scenario, Hillis and Roshchyn were not violent felons and Officer Perez was not chasing them. He simply signaled for them to pull over.
Perez did stay behind the motorcycle, only reaching a top speed of 71 miles per hour while Hillis and Roshchyn entered the high-five interchange at 114-miles per hour. Somewhere near the top of the freeway interchange, the motorcycle hit the concrete embankment on the outer lane and the two suspects fell 100 feet to their deaths.
However, instead of using this story as a caution against fleeing from the police, the magazine chose to attack the officer for allegedly breaking the department’s no-chase policy. D Magazine chose to portray Hillis and Roshchyn as victims, even though both had previous arrests. In fact, Roshchyn pleaded guilty to a charge of burglarizing a vehicle in June 2005.
While the author portrays Perez as some rogue cop, the fact remains that the two burglary suspects are dead because they ran from the police.
Dallas Report by Staff Writer – Dallas press release distribution service | Wired PR News
