After a recent altercation resulted in him receiving a citation for assault, former NFL receiver Dez Bryant is calling for a thorough police investigation.
He spoke to OutKick (via ESPN) and called on the Southlake Police Department for a formal investigation of the altercation. He clarified some key aspects of the altercation.
According to Bryant, he confronted two drives who cut him off in traffic un Sunday, Oct. 25. He wanted to tell them to drive safer, but it eventually escalated into an argument with one of the men.
The driver allegedly insinuated that he would “shoot me or whatever.” This prompted the former Dallas Cowboys star wideout to warn him that if he pulled out a gun, “You better use it, because if you don't, I'm going to do something to you.”
However, instead of a gun, he pulled out a cellphone to start recording Bryant. The former NFL star knocked the phone out of his hand before the driver called the police, which Bryant was on board with.
When police arrived on the scene, an officer ordered all three men to the ground at gunpoint before they were handcuffed. Bryant's girlfriend and daughters later came to record the incident.
A spokesperson for the Southlake Police Department said that the officers had their weapons drawn because 911 calls insinuated that there was “a possible weapon.” However, “No firearms were recovered at the scene,” according to the spokesperson.
The officers only viewed the other driver's recording from his cellphone, not surveillance footage (including from the traffic incident), before receiving his citation for assault by contact, which is a Class C misdemeanor. Bryant's hearing is set for Friday, Nov. 20. Additionally, the citation carries a $367 fine.
Bryant claims that the police investigation was “very one-sided” at the scene, with one officer even suggesting he be “the bigger person.”
Ultimately, he is asking for the police department to “do you due diligence on what's actually going on.” He wants everyone to be treated “fair” and “with respect.”