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Jun 25, 2009 6:16 pm US/Central
FWPD Officer Involved In Movie Theater Attack Case
Moviegoer Says Officer Attacked And Beat Him
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
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Moviegoer John Hetrick says he was attacked by Fort Worth Police Officer Bernie McHorse.
KTVT / KTXA
A North Texas man thought he was going to watch a movie in peace. Now that man and a police officer are at the center of allegations of an attack at a local movie theater.
John Hetrick says he knew the man sitting near him at the Lake Worth Theatre was a police officer because he was wearing a police ball cap and talking about his job before the movie. According to police records that man was Fort Worth Police Officer Bernie McHorse.
"I thought, 'Great!' We got an officer sitting right next to us," explained Hetrick. "This is going to be the quietest theatre T ever seen, 'ya know?"
But when Hetrick's fiancée talked to him during the movie, a hostile situation developed. "He said, 'Can you please hold it down? Thank you.', very abrasively, very roughly," said Hetrick. "I said 'Yeah we can please hold it down. Thank you.' repeating his words. He then turned to his wife or girlfriend and said "f______ fat a__."
Soon loud curses were exchanged and at one point, according to McHorse's story, Hetrick threatened to kill him and called him a pig.
As the argument escalates what happened next is unclear. Officer McHorse told Lake Worth investigators he had a concealed handgun under his left arm and that Hetrick grabbed that arm. So McHorse says he defended himself.
Hetrick says that's not what happened at all. "I never seen him coming," said Hetrick. "He struck me once, twice, maybe three times."
According to Hetrick, the officer gouged his eye and he suffered a broken nose and a detached retina.
Ultimately, Lake Worth police cuffed Hetrick and charged him with disorderly conduct. McHorse is charged with simple assault.
Hetrick says he's deeply disturbed by the incident. "It's the worst thing that's ever happened to me," he said. "It's just every night I pray to God to help me fall asleep. Eventually, I'll fall asleep. But I can't believe this guy's still an officer."
A spokesman with the Fort Worth Police Department said Officer McHorse remains on duty, while the department conducts an internal investigation.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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