To

David O. Brown

Chief of Police, City of Dallas

Gary Tittle

Commander, Central Division, Dallas Police Department

From

Avi S. Adelman

Date

June 19th, 2015

Re

Follow up to complaints / Office Down / Santa Fe Trail Incident (March 27)

Offensive language and behavior / Officer Rugby

On April 10, 2015, I filed a number of complaints with the Dallas Police Departments Internal
Affairs Division regarding the efforts of numerous Dallas Police officers to prevent me from
taking photographs at the officer down incident on the Santa Fe Trail in East Dallas on March
27th, 2015.
Those complaints were forwarded to DPD Central Division Chief Gary Tittle for review and
action. Since Chief Tittle was assigned to the Texas State Legislative session, we agreed to
postpone any action on these complaints until his return to full duty at Dallas DPD Central.
Since his return, Chief Tittle has been in Boston for an LEO program. The review has been
moved to after July 4th, 2015.
As part of my due diligence in this matter, I submitted open record requests for at least one,
possibly two, bodycam videos from officers at the scene. The Asian officer (name unknown)
may or may not have been wearing a bodycam, but an officer whose first name is Mike was
absolutely wearing such a device.
On June 18th, I was provided five DVDs of videos to review from this request. However, upon
reviewing the files, it was determined they were dashcam videos and not bodycam videos. The
officers in charge of open records did not know why I was not supplied the bodycam videos,
and they have queried DPD Central for those files.
I reviewed the dashcam videos last evening. Two seemed to be duplicate files (or from two
vehicles that parked very close together), and two were of the general area with no sound.
The fifth file was the most interesting of all. This dashcam video was from the vehicle driven by
an officer we have not identified by name (he was not wearing a nameplate), but we have
learned he plays rugby for a local league. Therefore, he is identified as Officer Rugby.

Officer Rugbys dashcam system recorded his comments on the incident scene through his
portable radio. While the quality is not the best, it is understandable.
This tape is important since one of my complaints was against this officer and his (Asian officer)
partner (name unknown). It provides a running timeline of all his comments not only to me, but
to other officers.
I am amending my complaint against Officer Rugby with this transcript. In it, you will hear and
read his obscene comments about me, his wish that I would have done something anything
in order to give him an excuse to arrest me, and his efforts to not only stop me from taking
photographs but also to attempt to intimidate with verbal abuse.
His stated hope of seeing something about his actions posted on my website will come true this
weekend. And since he knows from the other officers where I live, I am quite sure he will be
paying me a visit.
I will let you decide what general orders this officer violated. While I realize his opinions may be
shared by the leadership of the Dallas Police Association, I am quite sure this behavior is not
accepted or condoned by command staff.
I look forward to your reply, and my meeting with Chief Tittle.
Regards,

Avi S. Adelman
214-923-3562

Transcript of Officer Rugby speaking at Officer Down

Incident / Santa Fe Trail / March 27, 2015
The recording sequence was activated when the
vehicles emergency lights were turned on. It
recorded everything prior to his arrival at the incident
through the officers heading to Baylor to follow the
ambulance. The entire tape is about 16 minutes long.
This recording was captured on the dashcam tape,
which was released to Avi S. Adelman on June 18.
The officer was not wearing any kind of personal
identification nameplate on his uniform. We have
learned he plays rugby for a local team, so for this
transcript he is identified as Officer Rugby. The names
of other officers speaking are not known, so they
identified by numbers.
The video can be seen on You Tube at this link:
http://tinyurl.com/officerrugby
DPD radio traffic notes where the incident is taking place
Officer Rugby exits his vehicle
Background noise sounds like Avi yelling in background upon his arrival to the scene.
Office Rugby moves out of frame to walk up berm
More of Avi in background
Female Officer #1

GO AWAY!

Avi

I can take pictures (unintelligible)

Female Officer #1

GO ON...

Avi (to Officer Rugby)

Officer, you are wasting your time, deal with the issue

Rugby

Alright.

Avi

(Unintelligible) . Get out of my way.

Another officer yells to Avi, unintelligible (regarding where to stand on berm)

Avi to officer on berm

You are going to have me arrested for WHAT??

Rugby

What kind of individual are you?

Avi

I am a photographer and you are a cop. You need to be a cop.

Are you trying to (unintelligible) with me?

Rugby

Im not trying

Officer #1 (Mike?)

The lines gonna be right there Avi.

Right here. Just stay right here.

Rugby (to himself)

Piece of crap individuals in the world

Avi

You are gonna waste your time.

What are you doing?

Unidentified Teenager walking with officers

I am helping them.

Avi

You are wasting your time.

Officer Mike

Rugby starts following Avi around, along with unidentified Asian officer
Avi to Rugby

Are you crazy?

Rugby

Minding my own business, sir.

I can move like I wanna move, its a free country.

You take your pictures.

I am gonna move my own body.

Rugby (to himself)

Piece of crap.

Rugby to Avi

Get on the street, dude.

Avi

Stop chasing me

Lots of background noise. Rugby is standing by officer being treated, talking to another officer
Rugby to Officer #2

This fool is trying to take pictures of one of our guys. Thats vicious.

Piece of crap here, man

Background radio officer is going to Baylor. Lots of silence as officers leave the area.
After ambulance leaves, Avi starts to go back to his truck
Avi to Rugby

Do you have a problem sir?

Rugby

No not at all, Mr. Adelman.

Avi

Then why dont you get away from me??

Rugby

I can stay right here.

Avi

Then you can hear me call a sergeant.

Rugby

Go ahead and call, go ahead and call

Avi

You are are insult to .

Rugby

Where you going, man?

Avi

Im done whats your problem?

Rugby

I am just going for a walk its a free country.

Just going for a walk.

Avi

What are you going to do to me, harass me??

Rugby

I am just going for a walk. Its a free country, I can walk.

Avi

Knock yourself out.

Rugby

What you worried about me, I need the exercise??

Avi leaves area, Rugby goes back to other officers. Long space of silence.
(Rugby speaking to other officers)
Rugby

Is there anybody you just want to punch the crap out of??

I wish he had gave me any reason to put him in jail.

Long break, Rugby talks about resource center

Rugby to Officer #3

Hey, who that dude work for?? That Avi dude?

Officer #3

Who? That Jewish guy???

Rugby

Yeah

Officer #3

He dont work for anybody.

Hes one of the activists who lives in the area.

Officer #4

Hey, dont worry about Avi

Rugby

Piece of crap right there.

Talk about moving police bicycles

Rugby

What do you say, hes one of these activists?

Officer #5

The guy that was out here taking pictures?

He used to live up on Greenville Avenue.

Officer #6

He lives on East Side now

Rugby

What does he do?

Officer #7

Nuthin, hes just

Rugby

Hes gotta have a website or something

Officer #8

Yeah, hes got a website

Rugby

I hope he puts something on that thing piece of crap.