Of course, his violent assaults and batteries against whites just make him all the more popular among his black supremacist constituents.
Today in Dallas photo history – 1991: County Commissioner John Wiley Price involved in downtown scuffles
By Jerome Sims / Photo Librarian
jsims@dallasnews.com
7:00 am on August 2, 2013
Dallas Morning News
From The Dallas Morning News, August 3, 1991
PRICE INVOLVED IN 2 FIGHTS – MAN’S ANKLE BROKEN; CHARGES MAY BE FILED by Steve Scott
Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price was involved in two altercations Friday afternoon that could result in the filing of assault charges against him. A man involved in one of the fights suffered a broken ankle.
The man, a carpenter, was working on a movie set at the Dallas County Administration Building at the time. The fight started after Mr. Price and workers argued over construction equipment that was blocking the street.
That incident occurred about 90 minutes after Mr. Price fought with a jogger during a protest outside the offices of WFAA-TV (Channel 8) and The Dallas Morning News.
[Price doesn't "fight" with whites, he sucker punches or jumps them.]
Both men said they wanted to press charges against Mr. Price, but police were investigating the incidents and said they probably wouldn’t decide until next week whether to file assault charges against the commissioner.
Tim Short, a carpenter on the set of the movie Ruby, was released from Baylor University Medical Center Friday evening after treatment for a broken right ankle, a sprained right thumb and cuts and bruises, hospital officials said.
That incident began shortly before 1:30 p.m. as Mr. Price stopped his car on Elm Street while movie workers moved materials and equipment out of his way. Mr. Price said he had to slam on his brakes when a workman sawing wood in the street stuck out a board.
“The guy didn’t say “excuse me’ or nothing,’ Mr. Price said.
After parking his car on an adjacent lot, Mr. Price approached the men. Accounts of what happened next differ.
Mr. Short, 32, said he tried to intervene when Mr. Price and another construction worker began arguing about the equipment.
“I tried to tell him we’re not a problem, that we’d get out of his way,’ Mr. Short said. “But Price pushed me forward and started choking me.’
Mr. Price said the workers attacked him.
“I went around there to talk to them about blocking the street, and they advanced on me,’ Mr. Price said.
The commissioner said that one worker attacked him, and that he grabbed the man by the neck and rammed him into the sidewalk. A second worker then grabbed Mr. Price, and the man he was holding tried to knee him in the groin, the commissioner said.
“I just came unglued and started punching and kicking,’ Mr. Price said. “The fight was on.’
Employees in Mr. Price’s office who said they witnessed the fight said several of the men were on top of Mr. Price. They also said the movie workers had “mouthed off’ to the commissioner as he waited in his car for them to move the material and again when he approached them.
“I wasn’t really paying any attention to that,’ Mr. Price said. “I started paying attention when they advanced on me.’
However, Mr. Short said the commissioner accused the workers of being white racists and shouted profanities at them. Mr. Price then began choking and punching him, Mr. Short said. He said a woman with Mr. Price hit him over the head several times with a purse.
“They kept backing up and it threw me into the curb,’ Mr. Short said. “That’s when I heard my ankle snap.’
Bruce Richardson, an artist on the movie set, said the two-term commissioner was angry as he approached Mike Fisher, the production company foreman, and began to argue with him. He said Mr. Short tried to persuade Mr. Price to leave Mr. Fisher alone.
“He (Mr. Price) lunged into him and started choking him,’ Mr. Richardson said. “He (Mr. Price) put him in a choke hold and they were wrestling all over the ground. Price’s people kept yelling, “Come on, John, stop it.’ ‘
Court records show that Mr. Short was arrested on charges of aggravated assault and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 1977 but that the charges were dismissed. He received a probationary 60-day jail sentence for theft in 1977 and was found not guilty on a 1981 assault charge.
Mr. Short could not be reached to comment on those incidents.
Police said they did not arrest Mr. Price after the confrontation because they didn’t fear he would flee and were unclear of the circumstances of the fight.
Police Lt. Kirk Stewart said felony assault or Class A misdemeanor assault charges could be filed, depending on the severity of Mr. Short’s injuries.
The distinction between felony and misdemeanor charges could be significant because state law bars convicted felons from holding elective office.
The main difference between the charges is the degree of injury. According to statutes, felony aggravated assault may be charged when the victim receives a “serious bodily injury,’ defined as an injury that poses “a substantial risk of death or that causes death, serious permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.’
“I guess a broken ankle could be serious bodily injury,’ said Assistant District Attorney Mike Gillett, noting that there are numerous cases interpreting the meaning of that phrase.
Additional charges alleging assault of another construction worker involved in the fight also could be filed against the commissioner, Lt. Stewart said.
Police also may file assault charges against Mr. Price in connection with the earlier incident involving a jogger Friday during the protest outside WFAA and The News. Mr. Price and supporters have been demonstrating almost daily outside the television station, which they accuse of insensitive news coverage and discriminatory hiring and promotion practices.
The jogger, Larry Buck, 40, of Lancaster said he was tackled and beaten by Mr. Price as the jogger ran through a group of pickets on Young Street in front of the newspaper.
“I saw a big circle and a big gap (in the crowd), and joggers don’t like to take any extra steps, so I just tried to go through the gap,’ Mr. Buck said immediately afterward. “Mr. Price then body-slammed me to the ground. . . . He attacked me for no good reason.’
Some protesters said the jogger started the incident.
“The guy tried to run over our children,’ said the Rev. Robert Hadley, past president of the Dallas chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. “He almost ran over me. I ducked out of the way, and he ran into John.’
Mr. Buck, who said he regularly jogs past the building, said Mr. Price should have let him pass through the picket line.
“He had no reason to do that,’ said Mr. Buck. “They have no right to block the sidewalk. I am going to press charges against him.’
Mr. Buck was not seriously injured.
Mr. Price is appealing a February conviction on misdemeanor criminal mischief charges. That stemmed from a Dec. 7 incident in which he damaged the windshield wipers of a Plano woman’s van during a demonstration at the Dallas offices of KXAS-TV (Channel 5).
Last summer, Dallas police Officer Robert Bernal accused Mr. Price of threatening him with a submachine gun after the officer shouted an obscenity at the commissioner. The two men later apologized to each other, and no criminal charges were filed.
Staff writers Al Brumley, Todd Copilevitz, Joseph Palmore, Jason Reid and Pete Slover and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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