Ex-DPS Trooper Gets Probation In Misconduct Case

DALLAS (AP) - A former state trooper has been sentenced to six months probation for assaulting a drunken-driving suspect during a 2009 traffic stop in Dallas.

Forty-three-year-old Arturo Perez was convicted of misdemeanor assault in connection with the traffic stop.

According to a North Texas newspaper, a misdemeanor court judge sentenced him to 180 days in jail Thursday but suspended that and gave him probation instead.

Whitney Fox, the 23-year-old drunken-driving suspect, was not charged with any crime.

Prosecutors say Perez threw Fox face-first into a concrete highway divider when she struggled after being handcuffed.

The incident was recorded on dash-camera video and by a tollway camera.

Perez retired in Oct. 2009 before being discharged for misconduct.

He apologized to Fox and shook her hand after the court hearing.

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