From The Dallas Moring News
Original publication date: June 18, 2011

Dallas, Texas — As men tried to kick in the door, Steven Ray Jones begged a 911 operator to quickly send the police.

Jones, believing the attackers who critically injured his cousin had returned, opened fire as the door to the Pleasant Grove apartment flew open. But it wasn’t the bad guys. It was the police.

Flying debris and shrapnel wounded three Dallas officers. None suffered serious injury, but the incident reveals a breakdown in communications. Officers inadvertently put themselves in harm’s way as police dispatch communicated with them and while a 911 operator was still on the line with Jones.

Assistant Chief Daniel Garcia, who oversees the department’s dispatch and 911 communications center, said these types of incidents should be reviewed carefully, but his initial assessment is that the 911 operator and dispatcher did well under pressure.

“The bottom line is the safety of the officers and our citizens,” he said.

Jones, 27, is being held without bail in the Dallas County Jail because the shooting triggered a probation violation related to a 2010 aggravated assault case, in which he held his girlfriend at gunpoint. He now faces three counts of aggravated assault on a public servant.

“I had no intentions of shooting at the police, but I understand why they’re upset with me,” he said in a jail interview Thursday. “I was in fear for our lives.”

Authorities say the officers believed that someone lay inside bleeding and possibly dying, so they decided to kick in the door.

Inside the apartment, Jones panicked when the kicking started. Jones said he yelled that the police were en route and that they needed to leave. He says he never heard the officers identify themselves.

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