Former Councilman Kevin Felder has been indicted on a third-degree felony for allegedly striking a scooter-riding kid in his Fair Park district and speeding off. The charge is failure to render aid, a Dallas County Clerk confirmed. The indictment came this morning.
You’ll recall the drama from last February: the City Council was meeting at its first night meeting in a gym when Police Chief U. Reneé Hall pulled Felder from the proceedings. The police towed his Ford Fusion away that night, finding that it had damage “consistent with the collision being investigated.” The next day, Felder’s lawyer, Pete Schulte, disputed that a crash had ever occurred and maintained that Felder exited his car to confront the kid only because he had been “zig-zagging” in front of his Fusion. The arrest report stated that the victim couldn’t brace himself before hitting the ground. A witness also alleged to have heard Felder yell, “Do you know who I am?”
This incident also gave us video of Felder fleeing reporters in the basement garage of City Hall, which resulted in an NBC 5 photographer taking a tumble and me taking a screenshot:
That photographer did not press charges. Court documents also show that police had kept his Ford Fusion for nearly 10 months. A judge ordered it be released on December 6, finding that the forensic testing was complete and “agreed that vehicle no longer has an evidentiary value.” Back in February, Felder was released on a personal recognizance bond. His attorney has not responded to a request for comment. The indictment is not yet public.
Felder lost his City Council seat to Adam Bazaldua; he didn’t even make the runoff.
Update: Russell Wilson, Felder’s attorney, sends this statement:
We are in receipt of an indictment for the offense of accident involving injury.I will contact the assigned court and request an arraignment date to enter a plea of not guilty to the indictment. The threshold to obtain an indictment is relatively low and no one should view the indictment as any evidence that Mr. Felder committed any offense at all. At this time, there will be no further comment on this matter.Additional responsive information will be set forth in the publicly available pleadings that we plan to file in the near future.
Update No. 2: Felder held a press conference this afternoon during which he maintained his innocence:
Former Dallas City Council member Kevin Felder this morning was indicted by a Dallas County grand jury. Felder allegedly hit a motorized scooter and left the scene in February. With @cassandrajar https://t.co/dM46sPn43W
— Hayat Norimine (@HayatNorimine) December 19, 2019
