Texas Ranger David Armstrong said Wednesday that he doesn’t believe Guyger committed any crime, including murder, manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide.
“I believe that she did perceive him as a deadly threat,” Armstrong said. “I don’t believe it was reckless or criminally negligent based on the totality of the investigation.”
Sounds like one hand washing the other…
According to LawFlog A fatal traffic wreck involving Texas Ranger David Armstrong of Dallas is a good example of the double standards inside DPS. On February 2, 2017, Ranger Armstrong was returning from a special operations shift on the Mexican border when he crashed his DPS vehicle into a pickup truck, ejecting both the driver and the passenger.
After several weeks, a DPS Highway Patrol accident reconstruction team was able to recover the vehicle’s computer to confirm his speed at the time of the crash.
He was driving 84 miles per hour on Highway 281 in Premont, where the posted speed limit was 45 miles per hour.
Ranger Armstrong fractured his hip, and his DPS vehicle burned down to the metal.
The passenger of the other vehicle, 30-year-old JD Kristopher Trevino of Premont, died of his injuries five days after the wreck.
Even though the accident occurred in Premont city limits, and even though accidents in municipalities are normally investigated by city police, DPS handled the investigation so it could cover up what happened.
Among other things, Ranger Armstrong was violating a DPS safety rule at the time of the accident. That rule mandates that officers working on the border take a six-hour rest period before driving home, and the rule had been in effect for more than a year at the time of the accident.
Ranger Armstrong had repeatedly violated the rule – a fact known to his supervisors – and he was violating it again when he was driving through Premont at 10:15 p.m.
Although most drivers would have been charged with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, or at least reckless driving, Ranger Armstrong was never charged with anything, nor was he disciplined. Instead, the entire incident was covered up by senior DPS commanders, and Ranger Armstrong is now leading a high-profile investigation into a police shooting in Dallas.
Senior Corporal Rivera who was on the phone with Guyger three minutes before the shooting and he said on the witness stand they were talking about work.
“To the best of my recollection I remember asking about the suspects to see if they ever confessed and I really don’t remember a whole lot about the conversation,” Rivera said.
Prosecutors say it’s telling that Guyger and her patrol partner deleted the text messages they exchanged that night on the day after the shooting.
Those messages have been recovered.
Corporal Rivera then testified about the racy text messages.
Prosecutor: “Would you send provocative photographs of yourself to Amber Guyger?”
Corporal Rivera: “Uh, yes.”
One text from Guyger read, “Wanna touch?” around 9:30 the night of the deadly shooting.
At 10:02 p.m., Rivera received a text from Guyger, “I need you. Hurry.”
At 10:03pm, Guyger texted Rivera, “I *ucked up.”
Prosecutor said Guyger typed those last messages while she was on the phone with 911 saying she’s shot Jean.
Senior Corporal Martin Rivera testifies at Amber Guyger murder trial
Rivera also has something else in common with Guyger: The 17-year DPD veteran also shot and killed an unarmed man.
On March 22, 2007, Rivera shot 20-year-old Brandon Washington outside a convenience store, where the man was eating a stolen candy bar.
Washington was suspected of shoplifting a candy bar by a clerk at a convenience store on Lake June Road in Pleasant Grove, according to news reports.
When Washington was slow to take his hands out of his pockets, Rivera shot Washington once in the head and leg, police records say. He died later.
No weapon was recovered from Washington and police said they believed he might have been reaching for a cellphone, according to news reports at the time.
A grand jury looked at the case, and Rivera was not charged with a crime.
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