Officer arrested
DALLAS — Dallas police say Sgt. Hector Roa was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated assault following an altercation at a Lower Greenville pub early Sunday morning.
For Matthew Kirchmeier, every moment at home with his daughter is more precious now.
"You just don't realize what happens when you realize this is where it ends," he said.
Kirchmeier feels he narrowly avoided being shot early Sunday morning by the off-duty Dallas police officer.
The 34-year-old bouncer and his boss were closing up the Public House bar on Lower Greenville Avenue, when, they say, Roa — who had been drinking inside — tried to get back into the bar.
"I was just holding the door open... letting people out, and he walked right up here and tried to come in," recalled Public House owner Adam Seigel. "I said, 'Sorry, closed, after hours,' and he tried to get in anyway — and that's when Matthew came up."
Seigel and Kirchmeier didn't know that Hector Roa, 37, was an off-duty Dallas police sergeant who was carrying a gun.
Police say the cop punched the bouncer, and the two got into a scuffle.
"He reached into his waistband, pulled out a gun, said, 'F-you!' I mean, pointed just right at you," Kirchmeier said.
Kirchmeier decided to run for safety, but Roa followed, he says.
"He stood up and actually chased me around the car with the gun, yelling, 'Come here, come here!'" Kirchmeier said. "I can remember me yelling the whole time, 'Put the gun up! Put the gun up!'"
Within minutes, on-duty Dallas officers arrived at the scene and arrested Roa, a 14-year veteran of the department.
The incident terrified Kirchmeier, who was convinced he would never see his two children again.
"Would he have killed me... shot me?" Kicrhmeier wondered. "You're drunk and running around a car, chasing a guy with a gun; there's no reason in the world you need to carry a badge and a gun and uphold the law."
Sgt. Roa later told officers the incident started over racial slurs, which Kirchmeier strongly denies.
Roa posted bail Monday and remains on administrative leave, facing two aggravated assault charges. He is also the subject of a criminal and an internal investigation.
E-mail jbetz@wfaa.com
