DALLAS — Former Mesquite police officer Derick Wiley says he'd like to return to law enforcement now that he has been cleared of a criminal charge in an on-duty shooting in November 2017.
A Dallas County jury found Wiley, 37, not guilty of aggravated assault by a public servant this week in the shooting that injured Lyndo Jones.
"It’s just like a thousand pounds off my back," Wiley said, a day after he was acquitted.
"Once they finally said not guilty, just a whole burst of emotion came out," he said.
There were shrieks of relief in the courtroom from Wiley's supporters as the verdict was read at the end of his second trial. A judge declared in a mistrial in September after jurors could not agree on a verdict.
Wiley was responding to a report of a suspicious person Nov. 8, 2017, when he encountered Jones sitting in a pickup truck outside a Mesquite business. The officer ordered Jones out of the truck and on the ground.
The officer said he believed Jones was burglarizing the truck and thought the man was armed. Jones was unarmed, and the truck was his.
After a brief scuffle on the ground, Jones got up and started to run away. That's when Wiley fired two shots, striking Jones in the back, seriously injuring the man.
"I still pray for Lyndo, and for everybody involved, even the people against me," Wiley said Tuesday.
Wiley knows his life and Jones' life is forever changed. But, Wiley and his defense attorney, Kathy Lowthorp, feel vindicated.
"Derick will be able to expunge his record immediately," Lowthorp said.
That record is everything, because Wiley wants his old job back. He has appealed his termination from the Mesquite Police Department. But he's not sure he wants the same position he had before.
"Going through this whole ordeal, I don’t know if I want to go back to patrol and put myself in that situation again," he said.
Wiley said he doesn't believe he has trust to regain from the community if he goes back to policing.
"I was an officer for 10 years, and I was a good officer. Every day I went to work, I did my best to do a good job," he said.
Wiley feels he still can do that job and do it well.
"I feel like there’s still something out there for me to finish, and I feel like there’s a lot I can still offer and it’s just, my work isn’t done yet," he said.
City officials have not commented on Wiley's acquittal or employment, citing a pending federal lawsuit. Jones has filed a suit against Wiley and the City of Mesquite. That case could be heard later this year.