“He calls for backup and tells the man to stay in the car, but he didn’t,” Boackle told CNN in a phone interview. “The last thing the officer remembers is getting sucker-punched in a parking lot. The next thing, he’s waking up in a hospital bed with staples in his head.”
According to Boackle, the detective spoke to Janard Cunningham, who was sitting the car. The detective decided to call for backup so that he could continue his robbery investigation while another officer handled the traffic stop.
While he was calling for backup, Cunningham allegedly exited the car and became aggressive, approaching the detective and repeatedly questioned why he’d been pulled over, the union chief said. The detective considered using force but thought better of it and continued his call when Cunningham hit him, Boackle said.
Cunningham is accused of then “pistol whipping” the officer with his own service weapon, Boackle said.
If Mr. Jump-Out-and-curse had taken one more step, the same thing potentially could have happened here. Some of y'all may remember, a Dallas cop was assaulted several years ago, and the perp took his weapon from him and shot him in the head while a crowd stood by, with some of them encouraging the murderer.