Oct 17, 2008 10:15 pm US/Central
Pro Cyclist Files Complaint Against Dallas Police
DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Leslie Porterfield has set three land speed records reaching speeds of 230 miles per hour on her motorcycle. Now she's looking for some fast action of another kind after filing a complaint against the Dallas Police Department.
Porterfield owns High Fiver Motorcycles in North Dallas. On Thursday nights she's open late to welcome customers with hot dogs and energy drinks.
More than a hundred customers gathered for the event last night. This time, however, they were greeted by several Dallas Police officers responding to a complaint.
According to Porterfield, a police officer shoved a customer. When she tried to resolve the issue, she says the officer "looked at me straight in the face and sprayed the mace right in my direction. He continued to fan the spray across the crowd of my customers. I collapsed to the ground. My eyes were on fire and my face was burning."
Dallas Police have a different story. Officers say several motorcycles were illegally parked on the service road along LBJ, while other bikes were blocking a fire lane.
Officers say they tried to disperse the crowd after a customer became aggressive. That's when Officer James Stambaugh placed his hand against the customer's chest. Police say he refused to back down.
"According to the report, it appears a crowd was gathering and they did not have an opportunity to spray one person so they shot a one second burst into the air in order to disperse everyone at one time" says Dallas Police Lt. Vernon Hale.
But at least a dozen witnesses, including Leslie's employees, strongly disagree with that account.
"He just pointed it right at her (Porterfield's) face, sprayed her and then sprayed everybody who was on the front porch of the business" says one of Leslie's employees, Quincy Tidwell.
There were no arrests or citations handed out. Porterfield's complaint alleges that Dallas Police used excessive force. Police say that Porterfield had no signs of being sprayed in the face with pepper spray.
Officers say she did not show the signs of red or watery eyes or skin discoloration. The Dallas Police Department Internal Affairs office is investigating the complaint.
A side note of disclosure to the story, Leslie Porterfield was featured last month on a segment for TXA 21 news. She also worked on a promotion for the station.
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