Councilman Kevin Felder was charged with a third-degree felony for allegedly striking a scooter rider with his sedan and leaving before the cops showed up. Judge Tammy Kemp signed a warrant for his arrest on Monday, which also served as a magnet that pulled news reporters to City Hall. One even took a tumble while filming the councilman walking to his car in the packed garage.
The formal charge in the scooter incident is causing an accident involving serious bodily injury. Felder’s attorney visited the court on Monday and had a personal recognizance bond set as part of a pre-book hearing. Felder’s bond was paid, but he still had to show up to jail to get fingerprinted and have his photo taken in an area separate from the book-in area. Which is why his attorney, Pete Schulte, tweeted that there would be “no wanted ‘perp walk’ today.” County records show this happened at 10:44 a.m.; he was released six minutes later. His mugshot is above this post.
Schulte says the two are “not happy with the PD’s decision” and, in a press conference around noon outside the Dallas County Courthouse, maintained Felder had not committed any offense. That’s in line with the attorney’s public statements since Dallas police began investigating the incident. Schulte says the scooter rider was weaving in front of Felder’s Ford Fusion in the 2500 block of Malcolm X. on Feb. 13. He says Felder got out of the car and had some words with the rider, but then got back in his car and left. Police say there’s evidence that he struck the scooter and drove away. Police later towed the vehicle from a City Council meeting.
There are eight people running for Felder’s seat. He’s stayed mum on the topic since it happened; it’s hard to imagine his opponents won’t try to get him to speak on it during the inevitable District 7 debates. The warrant isn’t in the county’s system yet; we’ve filed an open records request and will update when we get it.
