The attorney for Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins tells The Dallas Morning News his client will plead no contest to misdemeanor assault next week, but he denies the accusation he grabbed a city employee.
Atkins was ticketed for misdemeanor assault Friday after being accused of yelling at and grabbing a female security guard at City Hall. In a statement released Friday afternoon, Atkins admitted to raising his voice but denies he ever touched the woman.
According to a DPD incident report released Friday morning at the request of The Dallas Morning News, 61-year-old security guard Raquel Hultquist reported "offensive contact" after she said Atkins grabbed her after she refused to open a locked door that leads to council chambers.
Hultquist told her supervisors that she and witnesses were talking inside the green doors at City Hall just before 8 a.m. Dec. 10 when a man, later identified as Atkins, walked up to the locked doors and began jerking on them.
She said she asked the man if he had his ID card and he responded by yelling, "Open the door!"
Hultquist said she explained she wasn't supposed to open the door before 8 a.m. due to new security measures and that if he didn't have his ID card he would need to go to the blue doors and see security.
According to the incident report Atkins ignored her directions and continued jerking on the doors while yelling for it to be opened.
Someone then buzzed the door open and Atkins, according to the report, walked over to Hultquist, "grabbed her by the shoulders and yelled in her face, "Do you know who I am? Why didn't you open the door?"
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
Hultquist explained she didn't know who he was and that she wasn't supposed to open the door to people without identification.
Atkins replied, "I'm Councilman Atkins. It doesn't apply to councilmen!" the report said.
Atkins told his side of the story in a statement released to the media Friday. He said his arms were full of files and a briefcase and that while he did yell he never touched any of the employees.
"I suppose I raised my voice a bit but I did not use profanity nor did I touch, much less shake, either of the ladies. My conversation with them lasted no more than 30 seconds or so and I had my briefcase and files in my hands at all times," Atkins said in his statement. "I regret that the two ladies feel I was too aggressive in my comments, and that I "shook" one of them. I totally deny that I had any physical contact with either of them."
Hutquist said she wasn't physically injured by Atkins but that she was upset at how she was treated and was embarrassed and offended that she was grabbed in such a manner.
Atkins said in his statement that "I know they knew who I was and that I was entitled to be admitted to the building" and that he told them he'd never been denied access before when he was without his badge.
The Mayor Pro Tem didn't say why he thought the guard would deny him access if she knew who he was.
Dallas police said there is a camera located at the entrance of the door but that building services said the camera stopped working properly on Dec. 4. Video of the incident does not exist, the report said.
That lack of video evidence disappointed Atkins, who said it would have proved he never touched the women. Still, he issued an apology for raising his voice.
"I later learned the security camera which would have verified my account of what happened was not working that morning," Atkins said. " I am very sorry this incident happened and extend my sincerest apologies to both women for raising my voice at them.
Atkins was issued a citation Friday for Misdemeanor Class C Assault, police said. His attorney told The Dallas Morning News he'll plead no contest next week.
