Sheriff's Office, Biker Disagree On Memorial Day Arrest
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – On Memorial Day weekend, Chris Moore was riding his motorcycle down Interstate 35 in West Dallas with a gaggle of other bikers when he was pulled over.
He said he'd just bought a Go-Pro camera and strapped it atop his helmet to document the ride, which was "a Memorial ride for some fallen riders," Moore said.
"Just riding with a group, going down the highway, then the mayhem started," Moore added.
Dallas Sheriff's Deputy James Westbrook pulled him over. Moore's camera captured about a dozen riders headed down the freeway. The deputy then pulls up behind, Moore pulls over and then Westbrook tells him he needs to take the camera as evidence.
Here's the full conversation:
Moore: Was I doing something wrong? What am I being pulled over for?
Westbrook: The whole group of you, yes.
Moore: No, I was not individually sir; how can you pull me over?
Westbrook: The reason you're being pulled over is because I'm going to take your camera and we're going to use it as evidence of the crimes that have been committed by other bikers.
Moore: I have not committed any crimes and you cannot take my personal property from me, sir.
Westbrook then goes back to his squad car for a few minutes. When he gets out, he tells Moore he's being arrested for having an obstructed license plate.
"I was in shock," Moore said. "Totally surprised; I didn't think anything I did deserved an arrestable offense."
The thing is, Moore's camera may have only caught about a dozen riders, but dash cam footage from a deputy squad car shows it being surrounded by more than 100 bikers. When Westbrook pulled Moore over and told him he was taking the Go-Pro camera, the deputy was hoping it caught higher quality footage that could help incriminate some of that group.
A group that, Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Carmen Castro says, was caught on dash cam driving the wrong way down the freeway.
However, Hunter Biederman, Moore's attorney, said they want an apology and "are still exploring all our legal options."
The Dallas County Sheriff's Department said it's also looking into the way Westbrook acted.
"We acknowledge the incident and currently we are taking a look to see if officer Westbrook's conduct is in question," said Carmen Castro, Sheriff's Department spokeswoman. "We had been dispatched by DPD to go to the scene because another deputy was being surrounded by a hundred bikers."
