A single-car crash in Downtown Dallas on Sunday landed an off-duty Dallas paramedic in hot water.
Dallas Fire-Rescue (DFR) paramedic Armando Fierro was arrested on a driving while intoxicated charge after wrecking his car at about 1:15 a.m. on October 8 in the 2700 block of Samuell Boulevard.
Fierro allegedly showed signs of intoxication when first responders questioned him at the scene. As a result, his three-year stint with the department is now on pause. He has been placed on administrative leave while an investigation is carried out by the DFR Internal Affairs and the Dallas Police Department, according to DFR spokesman Jason Evans.
His booking had not appeared in the Dallas County jail records online as of October 11.
Although no one was hurt in this accident, another suspected drunk driver killed an SMU student in Downtown Dallas a few weeks ago.
As covered in The Dallas Express at the time, Lynlee Pollis allegedly ran a red light at the intersection of Monticello Avenue and North Central Expressway service road on September 24, colliding with 19-year-old Honor Elizabeth Wallace. Pollis now faces a charge of intoxication manslaughter.
The Texas Department of Transportation reported that 1,162 deaths statewide were caused by drunk driving in 2022, which accounted for more than one-quarter of all driving deaths. This represents a 2% increase from the year before and amounts to three deaths a day statewide.
The incident involving Fierro occurred in Council Member Jesse Moreno’s District 2, which has seen an uptick in assault offenses, as previously covered in The Dallas Express. Simple assaults, aggravated assaults, and reports of intimidation collectively jumped by 4% year over year in August, according to the City of Dallas crime overview dashboard. Police had logged 227 incidents in total that month alone.
Like other districts in Downtown Dallas, crime rates are significantly higher than those seen in Fort Worth’s downtown area, which is reportedly patrolled by a dedicated police unit working alongside private security guards.
Much like DFR and other city departments, DPD faces serious staffing issues. DPD only has around 3,200 officers on staff despite a city report claiming that the department needs roughly 4,000 officers to adequately manage crime in the city.