The Mobile Police Department has released transcripts of the 911 call that prompted the police response that led to Jawan Dallas being tased to death this month.
Dallas, 36, was stunned with a Taser twice on the night of July 2 by a Mobile police officer after cops arrived at Plantation Mobile Home Park for a call about a suspected burglary. Dallas was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital after he experienced a “medical emergency” after being hit twice with a stun gun.
The transcripts were released a day after the family and attorneys for Dallas demanded at a press conference in downtown Mobile that police release the bodycam footage from the fatal encounter.
Caller: “I’ve got uh, somebody trying to get in the trailer, breaking in on us. Me and my girlfriend.”
911: “Somebody trying to break into your trailer?”
Caller: “Yes, me and my girlfriend.”
911: “Do you know who this person is or is it a stranger?”
Caller: “He’s a homeless guy that hangs around over here at the trailer park. He don’t need to be hanging around in my yard— *Call cuts out*– my dogs alerting and then he’s going to act all crazy and s**t walking down the road. I tell him just come on back god****it. They’re not running over me in here.”
Dallas’ family has retained civil rights attorneys Harry Daniels, Ben Crump, Lee Merritt, and John Buris.
“This is evident in the transcripts when the caller is asked what part of the house the suspect is trying to break into, he responds, ‘he was coming in through the yard, over the fence. And the dogs alerted us.’ What’s more, during that call, he reported directly to Mobile police that he only had someone ‘in the yard,” Daniels said in a statement sent to Atlanta Black Star.
He also pointed out in the statement that officers were responding to a misdemeanor.
“To be clear, Alabama State Law set the maximum penalty of Misdemeanor Criminal Trespass in the Third Degree at up to 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $200. That means Chief Prine’s officers struck Jawan Dallas, tazed him multiple times before he died over a Class C misdemeanor that, according to witnesses, he didn’t even commit,” the statement continued.
The couple who made the call wanted to remain anonymous, but they have insisted to local reporters that Dallas was not the person they were calling the police on that day. They stated that their home was located at lot 33 and later said in the call that the man started to walk toward lot 27.
Police have said responding officers encountered two men between lots 27 and 28, which were about 100 to 200 yards away from the mobile home. According to police, Dallas was sitting inside a car, and the other male was standing outside of the car.
“One of the individuals complied with the officers and gave the officers his identification card,” Mobile Police Chief Paul Prine said in a news conference on July 6. “The second individual was identified as Jawan Dallas, who was sitting in the driver’s seat of a vehicle. The officers inquired several times for Mr. Dallas’s identification card. He continued to evade the question, did not give the identification card to the officers.”
Officers were concerned for their safety after Dallas had “strange movements” inside the car, according to Prine.
“He was moving to the back seat with his hands, he was reaching under the vehicle, and these are cause for concern for safety matters of the officers,” Prine said. “We’re not here to disparage Mr. Dallas, but I do think it’s important to know. It may give some indication as to why he certainly attempted to flee and fight. But he is a convicted felon. And I think it’s important to note, at the time, Mr. Dallas had two active probation revocation warrants for his arrest.”
Prine provided a timeline of the events, and he said that it was “approximately 21 minutes” from the time Dallas was handcuffed to when he experienced his medical emergency.
Daniels said eyewitnesses saw police beating Dallas as well.
Prine said in the press conference on Friday that the autopsy report showed no evidence of “any bruising, any contusion, or any evidence of blunt force trauma.”
Attorney Merrit contended “This isn’t just about Jawan Dallas. This is about all of us because if they can tase an innocent bystander until he dies over what was, at best, a trespassing call, then none of us are safe.”
