The day after the family demanded to see the bodycam footage, the Mobile Police Department called its own press conference to release the transcript of the 911 call that occurred just before police encountered Jawan Dallas, a 38-year-old man who died after being shot twice with a police taser.
“I’ve got somebody trying to get in the trailer, break in on us. Me and my girlfriend,” the caller said to the 911 operator, according to the transcript.
That call came from a trailer park on Carol Plantation Road. The 911 operator then asked if the man was a stranger. The caller said the man was “a homeless guy that hangs around over here at the trailer park” and sometimes would act “crazy.” The caller described the person as a Black man in a red shirt and wearing a hat.
Mobile Police Chief Paul Prine told the media on Friday that patrol officers then went out on a call of “burglary in progress.” But the Dallas family’s attorney, Harry Daniels, said Thursday that police instead found Dallas about 100 yards away from where the call came from.
The 911 caller said his home was located at lot 33. Later in the call, the caller said the man started walking down the road toward lot 27. The officers immediately went to lot 27, police said. Between lots 27 and 28, they met two individuals. One was Dallas, who was seated in a car, according to police.
“One of the individuals complied with the officers and gave the officers his identification card,” Prine said on Friday. “The second individual was identified as Jawan Dallas, who was sitting in the driver’s seat of a vehicle. The officers inquired several times for Mr. Dallas’s identification card. He continued to evade the question, did not give the identification card to the officers.”
Officers were concerned for their safety, police said, due to Dallas’s “strange movement in the car.”
“He was moving to the backseat with his hands, he was reaching under the vehicle, and these are cause for concern for safety matters of the officers,” Prine said.
Prine said Dallas was later found to have drugs — crystal methamphetamine and analog marijuana, also known as spice.
“We’re not here to disparage Mr. Dallas, but I do think it’s important to know. It may give some indication as to why he certainly attempted to flee and fight,” Prine said. “But he is a convicted felon. And I think it’s important to note, at the time, Mr. Dallas had two active probation revocation warrants for his arrest.”
Daniels, the Dallas family’s attorney, said on Friday he believes police did not act within the law and sees inconsistencies in Prine’s account.
“Mr. Dallas was not homeless at all,” Daniels said in response to the police press conference, adding that Dallas was at the trailer park that day because he was visiting one of his friends who lives there.
After recounting the previously released details of the incident, Prine also said Dallas made it known to officers after he was handcuffed that he has asthma and said he couldn’t breathe several times. Police said they laid him on his back to ensure his airway was clear and called Mobile County EMS. He was transported to Providence Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
“I do think it’s important to note this: that from the time this to Dallas was handcuffed to the time he had his medical emergency was approximately 21 minutes,” Prine said.
The family and the family’s attorney have said eyewitnesses saw police beating Dallas, but Prine said the autopsy saw no evidence of “any bruising, any contusion, or any evidence of blunt force trauma.” Daniels disputes Prine’s claim that this did not occur.
“Dallas is African American, and bruising, especially if the person is deceased, may not be there,” Daniels said.
Police on Friday released the transcript of a second call from the trailer park to 911 that requested they send another police cruiser because police may need backup. “They have had to wrestle one subject to the ground and tazed them,” the caller told the dispatcher.
The Dallas family held a press conference Thursday asking for the city to make available the bodycam footage of the encounter so they can see what happened.
Daniels also told AL.com on Friday that it was not lawful for police to detain Daniels just because he was in the area.
“Even if officers suspect you have committed a crime, you only have to provide your name, your address, and why you’re there,” he said. “It specifically excludes having to give an identification card because (…) some people don’t have IDs. Some people don’t have a driver’s license.”
Prine cited the holiday weekend for the delay in providing more information to the public.
“We have given you a lot of detailed information, a lot of times that we don’t necessarily give, but again, this press conference was designed solely for the purpose to quell misinformation,” Prine said. Friday’s press conference was announced less than an hour in advance.
