Dallas Will Pay $1.1 Million to Man Jailed for 15 Months After Police Beating--Graphic Photo Warning

[TexasTowelie]

Ronald Bernard Jones

The way he described it, Dallas police officer Matthew Antkowiak could have very easily been killed on the night of December 18, 2009.

It started just before midnight, when the officer spotted 62-year-old Ronald Bernard Jones in the 300 block of Reunion Boulevard. Jones "appeared to be intoxicated or high on some unknown substance" and was "walking in the middle of the street and throwing beer cans in the air."

Rather than comply with Antkowiak's order to step to the front of his parked squad car, Jones threw an open can of beer at the cop then, when Antkowiak moved to arrest him, grabbed the officer by the throat, "choking him and lifting him off the ground."

The punches Antkowiak delivered to Jones' face (thus explaining the swollen-shut left eye in the mug shot) failed to loosen his attacker's grip but succeeded in provoking Jones to kick him in the testicles, hard. Finally, Antkowiak was able to subdue Jones by kicking his feet out from under him and securing him with handcuffs.

That's how Antkowiak described it in his official police report, anyway. The problem for Antkowiak, and now the city of Dallas, is that this account doesn't quite match what's shown on dash-cam video obtained by WFAA.

More at http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2014/03/dallas_gives_11_million_to_man.php .