8 May 15-21, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents a yearly goal of 400 new officers as “unreal- istic,” finally settling on 300 freshly sworn- in officers by the end of 2025. “Moving the needle to 325 means me moving critical resources out of the patrol bureau with the thought of increased re- sponse times and increase in crime overall,” Igo said to city council in February. Igo announced his resignation from DPD after not being appointed the next chief. Comeaux seems certain in his abilities to improve the longevity of DPD officers. “Our culture is going to be second to none, and our morale is going to be so high, we’re going to keep [our officers] right where they are,” he said. Aside from the challenge of improving the force’s total size, the new top cop is also entering a city with a decreasing crime rate year over year for four consecu- tive years, and the expectation of keeping it going. “After I thought about [the decreasing crime rate], I said, I might be crazy for tak- ing this job,” said Comeaux. “It’s a lot of pressure. But the goal is to continue to make it fulfilled for six, seven years in a row. We’re going to do it.” New Dallas Fire-Rescue Chief Justin Ball The swearing-in was a joint cere- mony also honoring new Dallas Fire-Rescue Chief Justin Ball. Chief Ball joined DFR in 1997 as a first responder and has risen through the ranks, and served as the interim fire chief since June of 2024 before being se- lected as the official chief. “Every rank, every station, every position matters,” said Ball. “Your voices will be heard in planning rooms, policy committees, and at the table [where] we see leadership. I’ll defend your rights, recognize your achievements, make sure our department’s culture, our family, lives up to the values we preach. I’ll be decisive, I’ll give clear direc- tion, and I will take responsibility for my de- cisions. I promise leadership that’s accountable.” Ball inherits a highly ranked fire depart- ment with quick response times and ample city support. But DFR also faces issues with understaffing and attrition. “For us to take into account attrition and come in on the number, we have to hire a lot more,” Ball said to the Observer while serv- ing as the interim chief in December. “So it appears that we have more. But, you know, it takes a long time for them to actually take ef- fect by coming into the field.” Bizor Tolbert has been a strong ally of DFR and a champion for increasing the city’s public safety. The DFR vacancy opened after she named former DFR Chief Dominique Artis as Dallas’s first Chief of Public Safety. “Keeping Dallas as one of the safest larg- est city in the country remains one of our most important priorities… And we know that with you, we can do this together,” said Bizor Tolbert. “As we continue to evolve into a globally recognized city, one that is thriv- ing and inclusive for all, it will continue to be important that we ensure that our police and our fire services are helping us to realize that goal.” ▼ PROTESTS PROTEST FOR THE PROTESTER RALLY ORGANIZER SAYS SHE WAS WRONGLY ARRESTED BY DALLAS POLICE. BY ALYSSA FIELDS A s Angi DeFelippo looked in her rearview mirror and saw the cara- van of police vehicles trailing her, she knew she was in trouble. But she did not think she would spend the next few hours detained at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center hungry, scared and, in her opinion, unlaw- fully imprisoned. DeFelippo, 38, was arrested on April 27 for obstructing a roadway as one of the two Dallas May Day Protest organizers. Her fel- low organizer, Rick Majumdar, was also ar- rested for the same offense. A political director for the Tarrant County Central La- bor Council, DeFelippo played a crucial role in staging the peaceful protest, which advo- cated for expanded labor rights and opposed the Trump administration’s recent policies. “I wasn’t expecting it to get that aggres- sive,” she told the Observer. “I wasn’t ex- pecting to spend 7 to 8 hours in jail with the option of having dirty tap water and unre- frigerated bologna as meals.” After the protest ended, DeFelippo got in her car and said she was immediately tailed by six motorcycle cops and two police cars. She wasn’t necessarily surprised by the bar- rage of lights and sirens, but she wasn’t quite sure exactly what their reasoning was yet. She had exercised her constitutional right to protest, but she wasn’t speeding and didn’t even have a tail light out. Admittedly, DeFelippo had placed her state registration sticker in the wrong loca- tion, preferring it in the top left-hand corner of her windshield rather than in the lower driver’s side corner. That’s a misdemeanor charge in Texas, punishable by a $200 fine and a ticket, not by arrest. DeFelippo said of- ficers started questioning her immediately, grasping at straws for an arrest-worthy of- fense before they landed on obstruction of a highway, a Class B misdemeanor punishable by jail time and thousands of dollars in fines. A Stomp On Civil Liberties DeFelippo had never been arrested before. She was quickly carted away to the Lew Sterrett Justice Center, where she was booked and placed in holding before being released on a Personal Recognizance bond, which allows a person to be freed from jail without posting bail under the condition they swear to appear in court. But before she left the jail, an impromptu rally formed after the original protest DeFelippo had helped arrange earlier ended. After the arrest, May Day protestors con- gregated outside the jail, calling for the re- lease of DeFelippo and Majumdar. DeFelippo says that 30-40 people, some ob- noxiously playing trumpets, rallied outside until just before 2 a.m., when she was finally allowed to walk out. There was also an ex- tensive call-in campaign. “Dallas PD started shutting off their phones, hanging up on people,” she said. “People found a secondary number. They started hanging up on that number. They started blowing up Fort Worth police.” DeFelippo said she overheard police offi- cers complaining about the protestors outside the justice cen- ter, citing it as a reason for tardiness and a general inconvenience. “All that culminated in them wanting to get us out of there as quickly as possible. It’s still a charge. We have June court dates, but we are hoping that these charges are dropped,” she added. She and Majumdar also hope to receive a public apology from the Dallas Police De- partment, although the department has yet to contact her. “We don’t feel like these should have been arrest charges,” she said. “The roads were blocked off by [police]. Whether you have a permit or not, it’s a First Amendment right. They decided that we could have the streets [due to] the size of our crowd.” But DeFelippo says the protest started off poorly, and police aggression only increased as the day went on. DeFelippo alleges offi- cers used unjust intimidation tactics, using unmarked vehicles and motorcycles to cor- ral protestors. “They started stepping up their aggres- sion after their tactics started to work,” she says. “As our group got smaller, they got more aggressive. That’s when they began blocking the front streets as we were going and yelling at people not to pause, not to stop, move faster.” DeFelippo says the Dallas Police’s aggres- sion was reflective of a general shift in the restriction of civil liberties that has been ob- served since President Donald Trump re- took office. “The direct targeting of organizers of events is very Gestapo, which shows the way this administration’s going. We already had that issue with the attacks on federal work- ers, Board of Education, EPA workers, letter carriers, the immigrants… It’s really showing a trend.” When reached for comment, the Dallas Police Department did not answer questions specific to DeFelippo’s accusations; instead, a spokesperson provided the following statement: The Dallas Police Department recog- nizes and supports the First Amendment right to speak freely, including during pro- tests. The Department must balance the rights of those participating in First Amend- ment activity with the rights of others not involved. During the May Day protest on Sunday, April 27, 2025, some participants stopped in the roadway and obstructed traf- fic, an offense under the Texas Penal Code, which resulted in arrests after the event concluded. The officers assigned to the May Day pro- test are trained in traffic control methods to protect every participant marching as well as uninvolved motorists. Officers gave multiple warnings before and during the march to continue moving and not intentionally stop in the road. Traffic officers proactively block in- tersections ahead of the march, which is why it is important to keep the march moving so traffic is not severely impacted. The officers will use all available re- sources to keep the participants safe and away from the danger posed by marching in the street, including using police cars at the rear of the march to prevent any vehicles from endangering the march, and having traffic officers “leapfrog” past the marching group to block an upcoming intersection. The tactics used are not designed to be in- timidating; instead, they are intended to al- low people engaging in First Amendment activity to continue doing so safely. When a person participating in First Amendment activity intentionally stops in a roadway and fails to listen to lawful orders from police to continue moving, they are at risk of being arrested; the same applies for drivers who intentionally block or stop traf- fic with their cars. Both instances occurred during the May Day incident. The March Goes On Before her arrest and eventual release, De- Felippo organized another protest in Fort Worth on May 1, but the events in Dallas led her to take a backseat on May Day. Still, her work isn’t finished yet. “[Rick and I] felt like it would definitely hurt us personally if we were to be arrested and put in jail twice in a week,” she said. “But overall, this is not going to stop us. It would take a lot... The labor movement’s be- hind me, the community orgs are behind us. As long as people don’t get scared, we’ll con- tinue organizing around these things.” Aside from the inconveniences of being arrested and having to go to court to fight charges she doesn’t agree with, DeFelippo’s primary concern is the deeper meaning be- hind her arrest. “I feel like [this] was a tactic that they’re using to try to make people unsafe and stop protesting what’s going on,” she said. “That’s exactly what fascism wants. Fascism wins when people stop fighting back, when they stop using their voice, stop working together, when they’re too scared to do anything.” Art Credit Angi DeFelippo spent hours detained at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center in Dallas after being arrested at a peaceful protest. Unfair Park from p6
