Dallas Police Officer Arrested

DALLAS - An off-duty police officer is accused of hitting two bar workers and pulling a gun on them because they refused to let him back inside after closing.

Sgt. Hector Roa, 37, was charged Sunday with two counts of aggravated assault, Dallas police said. Police said Roa, a 14-year veteran currently assigned to central patrol, has been placed on administrative leave pending criminal and administrative investigations.

Matthew Kirchmeyer, a bouncer at the bar, said they were closing about 2 a.m. Sunday when Roa, who had been at the bar, tried to get back inside. He said Roa was in plain clothes and didn't identify himself as a police officer.

"He kind of tried to muscle his way back inside," Kirchmeyer told The Dallas Morning News. Kirchmeyer said that when he and the bar owner would not let Roa in, Roa hit both of them.

"I pushed him to the ground," Kirchmeyer said.

He said Roa then pulled a gun out of his waistband.

"When I saw the gun, I started hightailing it," Kirchmeyer said. "I was yelling at the top of my lungs, 'Put the gun up!' Police across the street heard."

Officers saw Roa chasing Kirchmeyer around a car with a gun in his hand, police said. When the officers told Roa to drop his weapon, he identified himself as an officer and surrendered.

Roa told the officers he was upset because Kirchmeyer had called him a racial slur. Kirchmeyer denied calling Roa a racial slur.

"The extent of the conversation was, 'You can't come in, we're closed,' " he said. "He's trying to cover up for the fact that he was drunk and pulled a gun on somebody."

Roa could not immediately be reached for comment Monday. A working home phone number for Roa could not be found.

Senior Cpl. Teena Schultz, Roa's partner for two years in Operation Disruption, a high-profile task force whose officers responded to high-crime areas across the city, said that she was shocked by the arrest.

"He's got a great character," Schultz said. "He loves being an officer. He's above this. I'm interested to hear the whole story to find out what led up to this."