Members of the Keller City Council met privately Tuesday night to discuss the civil rights lawsuit filed against two of the city’s police officers.
Marco Puente, of Keller, is suing officers Blake Shimanek and Ankit Tomer for their conduct during an Aug. 15 traffic stop involving his son, which allegedly ended with Puente being pepper sprayed and arrested, followed by an apology from the city’s chief of police, the lawsuit states.
The council was briefed by the police chief and city attorney in a Dec. 29 special meeting, according to a post on the city's official Facebook page.
"City leadership plans to refrain from commenting on this matter further until residents have had the chance to hear from Chief Fortune and provide formal comments to City Council," the post states.
Those comments will come on January 5, when Police Chief Brad Fortune is scheduled to address the council publicly. That meeting will also be open for public comment.
According to the lawsuit, filed earlier in December, Marco Puente and his son Dillon were on their way to meet at a relative’s house. Shimanek, who was then a sergeant, pulled Dillon over for making a wide right turn.
Body camera footage shows Shimanek asking Dillon why he was “acting so suspicious” after Dillon partially rolled up his car window. Shimanek told Dillon to get out of the car, which he did, and Shimanek handcuffed him.
“You roll your window up, what does that look like to me?” Shimanek asked as he cuffed Dillon. He later told another officer that he thought Dillon was going to drive away.
According to the lawsuit, “Dillon rolled his window up around ¾ of the way so that he could safely speak to the officer and provide his identification.”
Marco Puente then pulled up in a separate car and began filming from across the street, body camera footage shows.
“You’re about to be arrested for blocking the roadway if you don’t park and get out,” Shimanek warned him.
“Park and get out?” Marco said.
“Park over there. You are interfering with my job. You need to go park over there,” Shimanek said.
Dash cam footage shows Marco backing up, and the lawsuit states he parked against the curb outside his relative’s house, in an area where it is legal to park. Marco then stood on the sidewalk across the street from his son and Shimanek, where he continued to film the interaction, the lawsuit states.
Body cam video shows Shimanek directing another officer, Ankit Tomer, to watch Marco, before changing his mind.
“Better yet, arrest him,” Shimanek said.
When Marco asked what he was being arrested for, Shimanek responded, “For blocking the roadway.”
Shimanek and Tomer pushed Marco to the ground and pepper sprayed him. Marco repeatedly begged for a towel to wipe away the spray, which he was denied, according to the lawsuit. In the video, Shimanek said he would get treatment at the jail. Shimanek later wiped himself with a towel from the back of a squad car, his body camera shows.
Sitting in the back of a squad car, Dillon told Shimanek, “That’s messed up, what you did to my dad.”
The lawsuit alleges that the traffic stop was nothing more than an attempt to find narcotics, although police found nothing illegal in Dillon’s car.
“Officer Shimanek racially profiled Mr. Puente’s Hispanic son in what would be a failed attempt to find narcotics following a traffic stop and eventual arrest for making a wide right turn,” the lawsuit states.
Two days after the incident, Keller Police Chief Brad Fortune apologized to Marco Puente in person, acknowledging that Shimanek and Tomer were wrong, according to the lawsuit.
In a statement, Keller Mayor Armin Mizani said the City Council is holding Tuesday’s meeting for a briefing on the incident.
“This incident underwent review by command staff within hours. All charges were dropped, the plaintiff was released from custody and fines related to the traffic stop reimbursed. Keller PD then proactively initiated an internal affairs investigation,” Mizani said in the statement.
Mizani said the city released the body camera footage and the internal affairs complaint in the interest of transparency.
That internal investigation led to Shimanek being demoted from sergeant to officer, with the opportunity to reapply in one year. A petition calling for him and Tomer to be fired and criminally chargedhas over 20,000 signatures.
Got a tip? Email Miranda Suarez at msuarez@kera.org. You can follow Miranda on Twitter @MirandaRSuarez.
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