Dallas Deputy constable’s off-duty actions questioned
By ED TIMMS and TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News
/ The Dallas Morning News
Julian Resendiz contributed to this report.
When Gerardo Rendon called 911, he had a simple explanation for what happened to his wallet: A man he believed was a police impersonator took it, along with his car keys.
Kevin Schoch, an off-duty Dallas County Precinct 2 deputy constable, gave police a more complicated account: He’d called 911 about an hour earlier to report that he had a suspected drunk in custody – Rendon – at the parking lot of a 24-hour service station, convenience store and fast food restaurant in the Love Field area. But before Dallas officers showed up, he took Rendon’s car keys and left because he had to be at another job.
Returning several hours later to leave the keys in Rendon’s car, he told police that he saw the wallet on top of the car and took it home until he could turn it in to his unit’s property room.
Law enforcement experts and civil rights advocates say the incident suggests serious lapses in accepted police procedures and judgment – including the decision to approach a suspect while off duty and driving a personal vehicle, leaving before on-duty police arrived, and – depending on the account – either taking the wallet, or finding it, and not placing it into a property room promptly.
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