Dallas Police Department Officer Tony Crawford (photo from WFAA TV)
It has been 25 years since one of our worst neighborhood tragedies occurred: Dallas police officer Tony Crawford was paralyzed by a bullet while patrolling near Lakewood Elementary School.
WFAA reporter Tanya Eiserer produced a heart-tugging story about the shooting and its impact on Crawford, his wife and daughter, who was just a year old at the time of the shooting (Crawford was 31 and had been on the force for nine years).
The shooting happened when Crawford rolled up on a couple of juvenile runaways pushing a bike near what is now the Lakewood Outdoor Learning Area (the Beards Branch creek beside and behind the school) on Wendover Street. One of the two kids (ages 14 and 15) had a gun, and they decided — as they saw Crawford’s police car nearing — that if it looked like they were headed to jail, they would shoot Crawford.
After he stopped the boys for questioning, the shooter fired a shot that missed Crawford’s head during a scuffle. The gun jammed twice more before Crawford tried to find cover behind a pole; that’s when the gun fired again, the bullet traveling under Crawford’s bulletproof vest, past his kidney and through his spine.
Even as Crawford lay shot in the street, one of the boys beat him with the gun and threatened to kill him, fracturing Crawford’s skull and knocking out several teeth.
Crawford left the hospital vowing to walk again, but that didn’t happen: He spent the past 25 years working for the police department (Eiserer’s report says 6% of the DPD staffing is reserved for officers who can’t return to full-time duty because of injuries).
It’s a rather long video by TV reporting standards, but between Crawford’s story and the old videos, it’s worth watching.
Crawford retires in January. The shooter received a life sentence, while the other kid spent 10 years in jail for his part in the crime.
