By Kelli Smith
Dallas Morning News
Reprinted – by Texas Metro News
Sgt. Arturo Martinez apologized to “anybody that I may have offended.”
A Dallas police officer who wrote “aim better” online after the assassination attempt on President-elect Donald Trump, who was on the campaign trail at the time, was given a 30-day suspension Thursday, officials confirmed to The Dallas Morning News.
Interim Dallas police Chief Michael Igo disciplined Sgt. Arturo Martinez during an internal hearing, the officials said. Martinez had also been under investigation for an unrelated allegation that he threatened someone, according to internal records obtained by The News.
Martinez, 38, confirmed the suspension when reached by phone Thursday. He thanked the department for the transparency and second chance they gave him and apologized “to anybody that I may have offended.” He said he knows he “brought discredit” to the department and hates that he “put people in this position.”
“I’m sorry, you know?” Martinez said. “There’s not much that I can say other than just accept what I did and move forward.”
He said the other unrelated allegation was rescinded but declined to provide further details.
His police association did not immediately respond to a request for comment over email. Igo did not immediately provide comment over text about his decision.
The disciplinary decision was one of several handed down Thursday by Igo, who held at least six back-to-back hearings. He gave a written reprimand to Detective Esteban Montenegro, a veteran homicide detective who was at the center of a bungled capital murder investigation, and fired three other officers, police officials said.
Martinez published the two-word post after the July 13 shooting at a Butler, Pa.., campaign rally, which left a man dead and wounded Trump and two spectators. A bullet pierced the upper part of Trump’s right ear before Secret Service fatally shot the gunman and ushered Trump off the stage.
Former Dallas police Chief Eddie García criticized Martinez’s post at the time, telling The News: “Disappointed would be an understatement.” Martinez’s attorney, Jane Bishkin, has said he was acting as a private citizen posting on an account with no identification of him as an officer, which she said “he has a 100% constitutional right to do.”
Internal police records obtained by The News show Martinez was under a second investigation related to a citation he got for assault by verbal threat on May 31, 2023. The News requested more information about that investigation in July, but the Dallas Police Department’s open records unit has not provided the records or answered questions about their status as of Thursday.
Martinez was assigned to the robbery unit and had been with the department since 2010.
He racked up at least 17 commendations and two awards in his career but has been under prior investigations as well, internal records show. He got a written reprimand for violating the department’s social media policy in 2016, and was accused of making improper comments in 2020, according to internal records.
An August 2011 memo obtained by The News shows a commander requested Martinez spend more time in a field training program because of “training issues” that resulted in an internal affairs investigation. The memo did not specify what those issues were or if they were caused by Martinez.
| This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas. |
