Stephen Benavides

Community Organization Says Dallas Police Miss Target When Tallying Shootings

Dallas Communities Organizing for Change, which has been largely critical of the Dallas Police Department, hopes to set a higher bar for the department in how it identifies incidents when officers fire their weapons. "They don't categorize officer-involved shooting appropriately," says Stephen Benav ... More >>

Dallas Police Haven't Delivered on Promise to Work with the FBI on Officer-Involved Shootings

Update at 11:20 a.m.DPD and the FBI told The Dallas Morning News the department has been informing the agency of officer-involved shootings: "They do notify us when there is an officer-involved shooting," Chaumont said. She further confirmed that the bureau had been notified about the Allen shootin ... More >>

In Pleasant Grove, Building A Playground and Bringing an Abandoned Church Back to Life

At dawn yesterday, the lot behind the former New Revelation Missionary Baptist Church was mostly empty, save for dust, rocks and scrubby grass. Although the Pleasant Grove church still looks normal from the street, it too has been empty since going into foreclosure earlier this year. By April, the s ... More >>

Occupy Dallas Protestor Pushed from Planter and Accused of Assaulting Cop Takes Plea Deal

Stephen Benavides, the Occupy Dallas protester arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer during a scuffle at the November Bank of America protest, has signed a plea deal that reduces the felony to a misdemeanor resisting-arrest charge and keeps him out of jail. Benavides pleaded no conte ... More >>

The 50th Anniversary of JFK's Death Could Be the Start of Something Good and Loud

DPD Chief Brown Suspends Officer Who Shoved Occupy Dallas Protestor For One Day

At the top, that's Hollis giving Benavides a shove off the planter, as seen in this video that led the DPD chief to open his investigation​Seems like forever ago, but it was just last month that Stephen Benavides spent a few days in county lock-up on charges of assaulting a police officer and resi ... More >>

Protestor Accused of Assaulting Cop Now Accused of Punching a Fellow Occupier

Photo by Brantley HargroveStephen Benavides​Earlier this morning, Occupy Dallas posted to its website an item headlined: "OccupyDallas supporter assaulted." That supporter: Glynn Wilcox, who was among those who helped hash out the agreement between City Hall and the protesters that allowed them to ... More >>

Stephen Benavides, Protestor Accused of Assaulting Police, Says, No, the Cops Got Rough

Photo by Brantley HargroveStephen Benavides​Stephen Benavides, an organizer with the United Steelworkers, was one of eight arrested Saturday at the Occupy Dallas protest at the downtown Bank of America tower during Bank Transfer Day, aimed at encouraging the use of not-for-profit credit unions ... More >>

DPD Chief Puts Officer Who Shoved Protester on Restricted Duty, Opens Investigation

From the video of Stephen Benavides being shoved off a sidewalk planter last Saturday​This morning, Brantley spoke with ​Stephen Benavides, the protester who spent several days in jail on charges that he assaulted a police officer and resisted arrest. We also posted that video now making the ro ... More >>

Time for Occupy Dallas to Push Back

We can't roll over for DPD's goon-squad tactics.

Mayor Awaits Report on Occupy Dallas; Group Vows It Won't Protest Omni, Vets Parade

Photo by Chris Howell​In the wake of two reports concerning the city's response to Saturday's arrest of eight Occupy Dallasites, some Friends of Unfair Park have asked: Is the city going to boot the protesters camping out behind Dallas City Hall, allowed by agreement following last month's trip to ... More >>

Occupy Dallas's Bogus Arrests: We Got to Get Up and Organize

​No way is this over. No way should anybody let this drop. The Occupy Dallas arrests last Saturday should be taken as a direct challenge, not a lesson or defeat. The Dallas Police Department is already trying to paper over the outrageous arrests of seven bank protesters last Saturday on trump ... More >>

City, Occupy Dallas at Odds Over Who Began Melee That Ended With Eight Arrested

Photos by Anna Merlan, more in the slide show​An Occupy Dallas march and protest turned ugly this afternoon when police used pepper spray to subdue the crowd outside of the Bank of America building on Main and Lamar, protesters told Unfair Park. Eight people were arrested from the crowd of abo ... More >>

Dallas City Hall Gets Occupied, For the Morning At Least, By the Latino Redistricting Task Force

Photos by Anna Merlan​As promised, the public comment period at this morning's Dallas City Council meeting featured several members of the Domingo Garcia-led Latino Redistricting Task Force . In the council briefing room, every chair was full, with many people wearing white-and-blue tees that read ... More >>

OK, So This Just Keeps Getting More And More Impressive

Kii Arens Another impressive show to add to the growing list of jaw-droppers the Door's been booking to its stage lately: The Eagles of Death Metal. No, seriously. On Friday, December 12. Add that to the list that already includes Ice Cube, Fishbone, King's X, Plain White T's, Job for a Cowboy a ... More >>

Dashboard Confessional, Fun Fun Fun Fest, Tom Gabel, and The Prophet Bar are Full of Surprises

A Dashboard Confessional member actually chose to live in Dallas. Also: Austin's Fun Fun Fun Fest Brings another Spillover, and—Hey—have you seen the Prophet bar's upcoming show calendar?

Is The Prophet Bar Backsliding? Potentially! Or So Says New Part-Time Booking Agent