DALLAS — The City of Dallas will spend up to $150,000 for the legal defense of a veteran Dallas Fire-Rescue paramedic who was fired and then reinstated after video surfaced of him kicking and punching a homeless man, a draft agenda of the City Council's December 11 agenda indicated.
A grand jury declined to indict Brad Alan Cox in 2022 after the incident in August 2019. The city fired him, but an administrative judge ruled in 2023 that the department must reinstate him, albeit with a demotion. The terms of Cox's reinstatement also don't include any reimbursement for lost wages since he was fired in October of 2021, according to a Dallas FIre-Rescue spokesperson. Cox remains a full-time Dallas Fire-Rescue employee, according to a spokesperson.
A source tells WFAA that the city is not bound to pay for Cox's legal defense as an employee. On Dec. 11, the City Council is set to authorize an additional $50,000 for an external legal firm to represent the paramedic, according to a draft agenda.
On Aug. 2, 2019, Cox and other firefighters responded to a grass fire on Lone Star Drive. Cox said a man named Kyle Vess started the fires and attacked him when he tried to stomp some of them out.
"He got up, and he started charging," Cox told a law enforcement officer on body camera footage.
When officers start taking Vess into custody, body camera footage shows Cox telling Vess to get up. Vess moves toward Cox with his arm, and then Cox kicks him in the head and punches him as Vess gets to his feet, the video showed.
Cox has previous experience as an MMA fighter, WFAA has reported.
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.”
Vess was charged with assaulting a public servant, but the charges were eventually dropped.
Vess filed a federal lawsuit in July 2021 against Cox and the city of Dallas alleging excessive force and seeking damages. Court records indicate the lawsuit is on hold pending a judicial determination of Vess' competence.
His family alleges that Vess has a mental illness and suffered a traumatic brain injury before the incident.
Past incident involving paramedic
In 2016, Cox and another firefighter were investigated for an incident involving another homeless man named Hirschell Fletcher.
Dallas police called paramedics to the scene. On his dash camera video, the officer says, "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, you can hear them laughing as Fletcher tries to spell his name in the background. It was used as evidence in the case.
"My eyes are burning," said Fletcher, as the paramedics laugh at him.
According to court documents, Fletcher has schizophrenia and a speech impediment. A Dallas police report stated he had just been robbed, "assaulted, and punched in the head, causing him to fall and hit his head on a wall."
Fletcher was taken to jail instead of the hospital for treatment. Court records show he died of a "slow brain bleed caused by head injuries."
The paramedics were not held criminally responsible for his death but were indicted for "falsifying a report to cover up his failure to render aid at the scene." Cox, ultimately, pleaded guilty and received 12 months probation.
