DALLAS — Dallas police Officer
Rafael Mendoza has been arrested for the second time in nine months.
Mendoza, 34, now faces charges of
driving while intoxicated and aggravated assault after he opened fire on
traffic along Interstate 30 in Mesquite early Sunday morning.
Mesquite police said drivers spotted
Mendoza holding a gun out of his car window while he drove eastbound on the
highway near Big Town Boulevard around 2:40 a.m. Sunday.
Police said Mendoza fired at least
once, hitting the trunk of a passing car.
A statement by Mesquite police said
Mendoza was drunk, and that officers also found a “small amount” of marijuana
in his car.
Mendoza, who was hired by the Dallas
force in 2008, was also arrested in July 2011 on family violence charges for
knocking a woman to the ground and handcuffing her.
Dallas police arrested Mendoza at
his apartment on San Jacinto Boulevard and charged him with domestic assault and
unlawful restraint. Police reports said Mendoza and the woman were arguing
about an ex-girlfriend. The report said he then shoved the woman to the ground
and put "flex cuffs" on her while telling her, "You are going to
the pen for 10-15 years."
Neighbor David Leon remembered
seeing the scuffle from his apartment window.
"He was just grabbing her, and
she was screaming and stuff," Leon told WFAA, adding that he was
"like grabbing her by the arm and shaking her."
Mendoza left the woman in the
parking lot for about an hour before removing the plastic handcuffs, according
to police documents.
WFAA was unable to get in contact
with the woman.
At the time of the 2011 incident,
Mendoza was placed on administrative leave, but it's unclear what happened to
the internal investigation or the criminal charges. Dallas police would not
clarify on Sunday, although it confirmed that he was currently an officer with
the department when he was again arrested in Mesquite.
Mendoza remains at the Lew Sterrett
Justice Center in Dallas on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon,
driving while intoxicated, and possession of marijuana under two ounces.