A police officer with the Garland Police Department is accused of hitting a woman while driving intoxicated on New Year’s Day.
According to FOX 4 News, Garland police say the officer, Louis Jerel Ellis, has been placed on administrative leave during an investigation of the crash led by Farmers Branch police.
Garland police are also conducting an internal investigation into the crash.
Ellis, who the Garland Police Department said has been with the department for two years, according to FOX 4 News, faces a charge of intoxication assault with a vehicle.
Per The Dallas Morning News, an arrest warrant affidavit says that Ellis, 32, drove a vehicle while intoxicated on January 1 and hit JaMeka Brown, 25, near the intersection of Inwood Road and Galleria Drive. Authorities say he was off-duty when the accident happened.
A Garland police spokesman, Lt. Pedro Barineau, said that the department expects all its officers to “conduct themselves professionally at all times and hold them to the highest standard whether they are on or off duty.”
FOX 4 News reported that Brown remained in the ICU at Parkland Hospital one week after the crash. The report says that Brown’s sister, Jaquita Brown, witnessed the crash. She told the news outlet that the impact threw her sister about 20 feet.
“I was in a fender bender, she got out to take pictures of the other car and see if I was okay, and as she was walking toward me,” Jaquita said, “he was speeding, popped the curb, and that is when he hit her. She went flying. I ran up to her, making sure she was still here. I told her to stay strong, think about JoJo, he needs you, no one can be your mom like you.”
FOX 4 News reported that Jaquita claimed Ellis did not check on her sister after hitting her. She said he remained in his car making calls before going over to them, “saying he didn’t hit her.”
Temika Brown, the victim’s mother, wrote on a GoFundMe account set to solicit donations that JaMeka suffered “multiple broken bones which includes broken femur, ribs & pelvic.” She also said the 25-year-old sustained lacerations to her kidney & lung.
While JaMeka Brown is no longer in a critical state and is off the ventilator, doctors estimate she will need to use a wheelchair for three to six months.
