DALLAS — Editor's Note: The video above is from an earlier story in October 2021
A former Dallas paramedic who kicked a homeless man has been cleared of any wrongdoing and will not be charged, according to the Dallas Police Department.
The department concluded a police review of a public integrity investigation with no criminal charges filed against Dallas Fire-Rescue paramedic Brad Cox, who was caught on camera kicking a homeless man in a video from 2019.
Police on Monday did not provide more information about why Cox was cleared.
State records showed Cox had a license to be an emergency medical technician - paramedic (EMT-P). That license was suspended in November 2021. It was unclear if Cox's license would remain suspended or not.
The man Cox was kicking in the video was Kyle Vess. According to police public integrity documents of the incident, "Vess had a black eye to his right eye, bloody nose, multiple fractures to his face and a swollen right ankle.”
The incident was captured by a nearby surveillance camera. Officers used a Taser on Vess and eventually arrested him.
The incident happened in August 2019, when Cox, along with other firefighters, were responding to a grassfire on Lone Star Drive.
Cox said he believed Vess started the fire. His explanation can be heard on the body camera footage from sheriff’s deputies at the scene.
“He was going up the service road and he sat right here in front of the engine somewhere, so I got out to kick it out while it was small before it got big, and that’s when he got up and charged,” Cox said.
This was not the first time Cox had been accused of disciplinary issues.
In 2016, Cox and another firefighter were investigated for an incident involving another homeless man, Hirschell Fletcher.
Dallas police called paramedics to the scene. An officer could be heard on his dash camera video saying, “you have DFR coming. This guy has a head injury.”
But, according to court documents, when paramedics arrived, they "assumed [Fletcher] was drunk and began harassing and openly laughing at him as Fletcher sat on the sidewalk in pain.”
In the dash camera video obtained by WFAA, they can be heard laughing as Fletcher tries to spell his name in the background. It was used as evidence in the case.
After four years, two investigations and the video going public, Cox was placed on administrative leave in November 2021 while the fire department investigated.