Dallas City Councilman Kevin Felder surrendered to police Tuesday morning after an arrest warrant was issued Monday related to a crash alleged to have occurred last week.
Felder surrendered at the Dallas County Jail at about 10 a.m. and was booked on a charge of accident involving serious bodily injury, a third-degree felony.
"I was not going to let him turn himself into a jail and spend the night and wait to be arraigned by a judge in the morning," said Felder's attorney Pete Schulte explaining why the councilman did not turn himself in Monday night. "There is no way that he hit that man on the scooter."
Felder, who represents District 7 including far East Dallas and Fair Park, was allegedly involved in a crash in his district on Feb. 13 with an 18-year-old person on a scooter, Dallas police said.
The account of the crash was documented in the arrest warrant affidavit obtained by NBC 5 on Tuesday and indicated the scooter rider was struck from behind by Felder's Ford Fusion, causing the rider to be thrown to the ground.
The rider told police that he is moderately disabled with a much shorter right arm than left, and that when he was thrown he tried to roll onto his "good shoulder" prior to hitting the pavement.
The rider said he suffered bleeding and severe pain in his right arm after the crash and that he had to pull the motorized scooter out from under Felder's vehicle. he said he was "very angry and in pain and engaged in a verbal dispute" with the councilman.
After the argument, the rider said Felder left without helping him or without waiting on Dallas Fire-Recue or police.
A witness to the crash told police she saw the altercation between the rider and driver and that she identified Felder as the driver after having had a number of dealings with him at various community functions, including speaking at a City Council meeting as recently as last November. The witness also said she heard Felder yell at the rider, "Do you know who I am!?" before driving away from the incident.
Investigators also reviewed security video from a nearby business and, through the road investigation, found no evidence that Felder slowed down prior to the incident.
Detectives tracked Felder to a City Council meeting at 6801 Mountain Creek Parkway where they photographed and examined his vehicle, noting damage to the right front corner they said was "consistent with the collision being investigated."
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Felder's car was towed from a Dallas City Council meeting that night as part of the police investigation. The next day, Felder's lawyer said there was no collision. The lawyer said a teenager on a scooter was weaving in the street and that Felder exchanged words with him, but did not hit him.
"We don't want to rush to any judgment," deputy chief Thomas Castro said on Feb. 13. "We'll conduct this investigation as we normally do. We won't take any shortcuts, and we'll do everything we normally do. And if it turns out we need to effect an arrest, we are willing to do so."
"I'm going on the record saying that I've been irritated with how they've been handling this," Schulte said about DPD. ""I just don't think they should be involved. I think if you're dealing with an elected official in any city level, you're damned if you do , you're damned if you don't. If you don't file a charge, you look like you're giving special treatment. If you do file a charge, it could be (seen) as retaliatory for a decision he's made on the council."
NBC 5 went to Felder's office Monday to ask him about the arrest warrant. While he walked through the parking garage at Dallas City Hall, an NBC 5 photojournalist said councilman Felder put his hand on his chest, then grabbed for his microphone, and he lost his balance and fell.
Felder's lawyer said in a tweet that Felder was only trying to push the microphone away from his face. Felder's lawyer did not return NBC 5's call Monday.
NBC 5's Ken Kalthoff, Jack Highberger, Frank Heinz and Chris Blake contributed to this report.
