A Dallas County judge on Thursday found a 27-year-old roller derby skater not guilty of assaulting a Dallas police officer.
After hearing three days of testimony, Judge Larry Mitchell ruled that Michelle Metzinger didn't attack Officer Ceaphus Gordon in January 2006 in Deep Ellum.
The officer alleged that Ms. Metzinger was belligerent and fought with him after he stopped her to ask for identification because she had been skating recklessly through traffic on Elm Street.
When he tried to arrest her on a charge of public intoxication, Officer Gordon said in his report, Ms. Metzinger tried to gouge his eye with her fingers.
Eight witnesses filed affidavits saying that Ms. Metzinger was not intoxicated and didn't resist when the officer tried to handcuff her that day, her attorneys, Kevin Clancy and Danny Clancy, have said.
The witnesses say that after Ms. Metzinger was forced to the ground, Officer Gordon put his knee on her back or neck while he was handcuffing her. This was not described in the officer's reports.
Officer Gordon described his injuries as three one-eighth-inch scratches near his right eye and scratches and bruises on his chin. He described Ms. Metzinger's injury as a "small laceration that required a stitch." His report indicates that she spent five hours at Parkland Memorial Hospital before being taken to jail.
Officer Gordon has had 27 complaints filed against him in his 14-year career, most of which were ruled "unfounded" or "inconclusive." Of the inconclusive complaints, at least two involved allegations of excessive force.
