Dallas, TX — Genevive Dawes, 21, had harmed no one and committed no crime when multiple Dallas police officers surrounded her and her husband as they slept in their new car. However, because a trigger happy cop was on the scene that night, Dawes and the unborn child in her belly were executed. Now, the cop who opened fire on this pregnant mother of two is headed to trial.
The trial for former Dallas police officer Christopher Hess started on Tuesday. Unfortunately, Hess was not charged with murder for killing Dawes. Instead he was charged with aggravated assault by a public servant.
On that fateful night in January of 2017, Dawes and her common law husband Virgilio Rosales had just purchased a car and decided to go to sleep in a parking lot. This couple who was expecting their third child, unwittingly purchased the car without knowing it had been reported stolen which led to the overwhelmingly violent response from police.
As FOX 4 Dallas reports:
They (police) were responding to a call about a suspicious person in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Eastside Avenue. Records showed the car was reported stolen out of Irving and the officers initially claimed the driver of the car ignored commands and then backed up in their direction.
But Dawes, a mother of two who was expecting a third child, had just purchased the car without knowing it was stolen. She and her common law husband, Virgilio Rosales, were asleep in the vehicle when the officers approached.
When police arrived on the scene that night, they didn’t knock on a window or ask to see IDs. Instead, guns were drawn, spot lights were shown, and yelling commenced, sending this pregnant mother into a panic.
“She got scared,” Rosales said. “They got guns in her face. At first, she don’t know they are cops.” Rosales told FOX 4 Dawes nudged him awake. He said he could not see who was outside because they were shining flashlights into the car.
In her panic, Dawes began to slowly back up in an attempt to get away from the armed assailants who were quite literally preparing to murder her. As she very slowly backed up, she nudged a police cruiser and then began to move forward again toward a fence. As she slowly backed up again, body camera video shows Hess and his partner, Officer Jason Kimpel, firing 13 shots into the couple’s car.
The pregnant mother of two and her unborn third child would not survive the bullets tearing through her body and she died on scene.
After Hess and his partner killed the pregnant mother, Hess is heard on body camera footage claiming she was ramming their cars. However, this was not true. Hess also claimed that Dawes was attempting to kill the other officers as she backed up. Again, however, this was not true.
The video clearly shows that as the car slowly backed up, there were no officers behind it — not to mention the fact that it was moving slower than an idle.
“To see the loss of life that I didn’t think had to happen was something that did upset me, “ said Former DPD Assistant Chief Randy Blankenbaker ,who was the assistant chief over the Special Investigative Unit that looked into the shooting. He said Hess told investigators he thought other officers were in danger of being run over, so he fired his weapon, according to WFAA.
But as the body camera video clearly shows, that is not true at all. No cops were behind the car as the pregnant Dawes was driving so slowly officers simply walked out of the way.
“You have to know what’s in your background, so you can’t say you believed that something was in the background. You have to know what is in background,” said Blankenbaker.
He said the video proves the officers violated the use of force policy. “You are responsible for every round that leaves your weapon. You are told that every time you go to the pistol range,” says Blankenbaker.
Blankenbaker, also pointed out how irresponsible it was for officers to shoot into a car in the first place. “You don’t know what is in that vehicle there could have been children in the back seat that could have been shot and killed,” he said.
After shooting and killing the pregnant mother of two, Hess was fired and arrested. However, Kimpel, who fired a single shot into the car was not indicted or fired but was suspended. He is still on the force despite Blankenbaker’s protest.
“I certainly made the argument at the time that Kimpel should have been terminated and should have been held accountable to that level at least,” said Blankenbaker.
We agree. At least for now, one of these killer cops is in the process of accountability. Hopefully, he gets it.
Below is this most disturbing footage in its entirety. WARNING: It is graphic.
