Dallas Officer Fired Over Fatal Off-Duty Shooting
September 21, 2006
By Tanya Eiserer, The Dallas Morning News
Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle on Thursday fired an
officer who shot a drunken, unarmed man over the
Memorial Day weekend at an Old East Dallas apartment
complex.
An internal investigation concluded
that Officer Michael Tayem, a four-year veteran,
violated the department's deadly force policy.
"He should have allowed on-duty
personnel to handle this incident," Chief
Kunkle said. Chief Kunkle declined to comment
further because of the possibility of litigation.
Haakon Donnelly, Officer Tayem's
attorney, said his client will appeal his firing.
"I don't think it was justified," Mr.
Donnelly said. "He's prepared to fight for
his job."
In late June, a grand jury declined
to indict Officer Tayem, who was off duty when
he fatally shot Jason Pabis, a 31-year-old Nokia
manager, during a scuffle in a breezeway.
Officer Tayem is the first Dallas
officer in recent memory to be fired for fatally
shooting someone. Three officers were fired in
the 1980s for fatal shootings, but all of those
occurred on duty.
Alan Melson / DMN
The officer shot the man four times.
Officer Tayem was off duty and working as a night
assistant manager at the apartment complex where
he lived at the time of the shooting. The officer
was wearing a T-shirt, shorts and sandals and
did not have a holster for his gun or handcuffs.
On the morning of May 27, he went to check out
a noise complaint. He told Mr. Pabis and his friend
to lower the volume of their music and to clean
up a mess they'd left around the pool. Mr. Pabis
started cursing and told him to leave. Tests later
showed that Mr. Pabis was extremely drunk.
Officer Tayem and a maintenance worker later
encountered Mr. Pabis outside. Mr. Pabis swore
at Officer Tayem, who decided to arrest him. Mr.
Pabis tried to leave. Officer Tayem blocked him.
Mr. Tayem and the officer scuffled, and the officer
used a police technique to force Mr. Pabis to
the ground.
"As he got up, he had an enraged look in
his eyes," Officer Tayem wrote in a statement
to investigators. The officer backed away.
Officer Tayem then pointed his gun at Mr. Pabis.
The officer wrote that he shot him when Mr. Pabis
charged at him. Mr. Pabis died at the scene.
Officer Tayem's account was backed up by the
maintenance worker. Officer Tayem wrote in his
statement to investigators that he shot Mr. Pabis
because he thought his life "was in danger."
Mr. Pabis' friends and family have questioned
the officers' actions and disputed the image of
Mr. Pabis as violent or aggressive. They have
described the Memphis, Tenn.-area native as a
fun-loving, adventuresome person.
"I'm a little surprised," said Mr.
Pabis' father, David Pabis. "I kind of thought
that it was a dead issue. But I think that's the
least that should happen. He loses his job; Jason
lost his life."
Also on Thursday, Chief Kunkle fired Sgt. John
McCaghren, a 24-year veteran, after an internal
investigation found that he was disrespectful
to a supervisor; that he criticized and ridiculed
members of the department when he expressed opinions
in a manner that was defamatory and obscene; that
he failed to obey a lawful order previously given
to him by a supervisor; and that he was absent
without leave.
E-mail
teiserer@dallasnews.com
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