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Top Stories: Fort Worth Woman's Arrest 'Had No Basis,' According To Police Chief

Fort Worth Police Department Video
A Texas police sergeant was fired for ordering a rookie officer to use a stun gun on a woman who had called for help during a domestic dispute.

The top local stories this morning from KERA News: Fort Worth Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald yesterday said the sergeant he fired this week had no basisfor arresting a woman back in August. That's according to the findings from an internal affairs investigation.

After Dorshay Morris called police in August for assistance in a domestic disturbance, Fitzgerald said she cooperated with Sgt. Kenneth Pierce and another officer who responded, but Fitzgerald said Pierce later became impatient, and that he initiated an unnecessary physical confrontation and ordered a rookie police officer to tase the woman.

Rick Van Houten, who heads the Fort Worth Police Officer's Association, disagreed with that assessment in a press conference yesterday.

The department's use-of-force expert said Pierce's behavior was well within the use-of-force policy, but the Internal Affairs investigation concluded there was no basis for the initial arrest.

Other stories this morning: 

  • Three Texas breweries are appealing their fight over a distribution rights law to the state Supreme Court. 
  • There are efforts to reconstruct thousands of hours of audio NASA recorded from Apollo 11 and other space missions.

You can listen to North Texas stories weekdays at 8:22 a.m. and 6:20 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM. 

Former KERA staffer Krystina Martinez was an assistant producer. She produced local content for Morning Edition and KERANews.org. She also produced The Friday Conversation, a weekly series of conversations with North Texas newsmakers. Krystina was also the backup newscaster for the Texas Standard.