Allen West Demands In-Person Apology from Dallas Police, City

Angela was pulled over for not using a turn signal on a W. Northwest Highway in Dallas Friday night at 8:44 p.m. During the traffic stop, the DWI charges emerged. She was not released from jail until mid-afternoon Saturday. While holding up a dinner receipt timestamped about 40 minutes prior to his wife’s traffic stop, he pointed out that the only drink his wife bought was lemonade. Angela West was charged with DWI with child under 15 years old.

West fingers a Dallas Police Department DWI Unit that is funded with a state grant as the primary culprit for his wife’s arrest. In order to maintain state grant funding, the unit must show it is arresting citizens, West alleged. The grant program is detailed on the Texas Department of Transportation website and is called the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program, or STEP.  For a city as large as Dallas the STEP grant can be as much as $1 million per year, according to information on the TxDOT website.

“If they’re going out there patrolling the streets to make collars, just because they have some quota to meet to continue to get state funding, the citizens of this area don’t need that,” West said.

West laid down his demands to the City of Dallas and Dallas County to include:

• He demands that DPD officer L. Harris be terminated
• He demands that the charges against his wife be dropped and her record made clean
• He demands that DPD Chief Edgardo “Eddie” Garcia, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, and Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot visit his home an apologize to his wife, his grandson who was a passenger of Mrs. West when she was arrested, and his grandson’s parents.
• He called for a review of the Dallas DWI unit and its funding sources.

West, a firebrand Republican, announced on July 4 his candidacy to challenge Governor Greg Abbott in the March 2022 primary election. A DWI arrest of his wife could become an issue in the campaign if true. However, West strongly and adamantly maintains his wife’s innocence and may flip a bad news item into a positive by highlighting the statewide grant incentives to falsely accuse any citizen of DWI.

What is more, all in leadership positions who West fingers as culpable are in the opposing political party. Dallas County DA Creuzot is a Democrat. Mayor Johnson is also a Democrat and the mayor has influence over the appointment of the Dallas Police Chief. Chief Garcia, who previously served as the San Jose, California police chief, was criticized in 2016 for not intervening strongly enough to prevent Trump rally attendees from being harmed by a leftist mob after the San Jose event. A local news correspondent from an ABC affiliate in California tweeted at the time, “Trump supporters attacked outside rally as SJPD just watched. Some call it worst clashes since Trump campaign begun.”

In Tom Green County, the Sheriff’s Office announced this week their intentions to use STEP funding to provide extra patrols over Labor Day Weekend.

Update: Aug. 23, 2021 — Dash cam and body cam video was released of the arrest: