The Hurst police officer who was videotaped in November cursing and threatening a teen during an arrest has been fired, police officials said Thursday.
Officer Disraeli Arnold, a four-year veteran of the department, was "indefinitely suspended" after an internal investigation of the Nov. 20 arrest of 17-year-old Andrew Rodriguez, according to a news release.
Assistant Police Chief Steve Niekamp said in an interview that "indefinitely suspended" is a Civil Service term that means, "basically, you're fired."
Arnold has 10 days to appeal, Niekamp said.
Tarrant County prosecutors have said that Arnold won't face criminal charges in the incident.
Police officials, however, concluded that Arnold was "disrespectful to a citizen, used indecent, profane and harsh language" and "conducted himself in a manner which brought discredit to himself and Hurst Police Department," according to the news release.
Arnold had been on administrative leave since the video aired in the media.
He could not be reached Thursday to comment.
The incident occurred about 3:30 p.m. Nov. 20 at Bellaire Park on Tanglewood Drive.
Officer Miguel Jimenez had checked on the backgrounds of some teenagers in the park and found that Rodriguez had an outstanding warrant. He struggled to arrest Rodriguez and called for backup.
According to reports, Arnold arrived and yelled, "Move and die! Move and [expletive] die! [Expletive] move again!"
One of Rodriguez's friends caught the arrest with his cellphone camera.
Rodriguez filed a complaint against Arnold, asking the department to investigate whether Arnold used excessive or life-threatening force during the arrest.
Niekamp said police officials considered the complaint during their internal investigation, and determined that the force Arnold used was reasonable based on his perception when he came to help Jimenez.
"But," Niekamp said, "the language was way out of our scope of general orders."
Arnold's personnel records showed that he was often called a "team player" by fellow officers and firefighters, although he frequently was late for work and sometimes "overzealous."
Niekamp on Thursday said he was limited in what he could say about Arnold because of the potential for an appeal.
"We expect them to take care of business, but also do it professionally and not use threats and profane language," he said.
"That's not what happened this time," he said.
Copyright 2013 - Fort Worth Star-Telegram
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
