The incident happened about 1:45 a.m. on Friday, 12 September, 2025, In Grand Prairie, Texas. Grand Prairie is midway between Fort Worth and Dallas, on the east side of Arlington. Police officers of the Grand Prairie Police Department went to the wrong address for a disturbance call. Officers said they knocked on the door of a Holly Hills Drive home for about five minutes. The home-renter, Thomas Simpson, a husband and father, said he did not know what was going on. He suspected criminal activity. He exited the house into the garage, then opened the garage door to investigate the situation. He was armed with a pistol. From fox4news.com:
Simpson told FOX 4 officers never announced themselves, and he thought they were criminals at first.
"They never say police department! But I recognized from the light the sign off the badge when the garage door got to a certain point. And that's why I dropped my pistol. And okay, let's figure this out. And then I get shot."
Simpson says officers fired eight shots, which he believes is excessive.
Grand Prairie police dispute what happened. From nbcdfw.com:
When officers arrived, police said they knocked on the door for about five minutes from a "well illuminated area." It was then that police said a man came out of the garage and "took an aggressive firing stance and pointed a firearm at officers."
"Fearing for their lives," police said, the officers shot at the person and hit him at least once in the leg.
Grand Prairie Police said the man's injury was not severe and that he walked unassisted to an ambulance. The man was taken to an area hospital, treated and released.
Fortunately, the bullet did not hit bone, but passed through the fleshy upper part of the leg on the outside between the hip and the knee. There are large muscles there. It appears no artery was hit. Eventually, the officers realized they had been sent to the wrong address. The Grand Prairie Police Department has stated they will refer a case of aggravated assault against a police officer to the Dallas County District Attorney.
As a matter of policy, the Dallas County DA's Officer-Involved Shooting Team is independently investigating the shooting. The Grand Prairie Police Department is conducting an administrative investigation, according to cbsnews.com:
The Grand Prairie Police Department's Office of Professional Standards is conducting a concurrent administrative investigation.
In an interview by cbsnews.com, Thomas Simpson says the entire family was detained for about four hours. One bullet hit a water pipe, flooding the house with three inches of water. From cbs.news.com:
The family was in the process of moving out of the rental home when the shooting occurred. They said one of the bullets ruptured a water pipe, flooding the house with three inches of water. Fortunately, most of their belongings had already been moved out.
Body camera coverage is said to be available of the incident. It has not been released to the public. What the body cameras show will be critical to the investigation.
Analysis: Wrong address incidents are not good for police. Texas has strong laws protecting the right of people to defend their home and property, especially at night. Exactly when the police realized they were at the wrong residence may become important, considering they held the entire family for four hours. It will be interesting to see if the police made any attempt to shut off the water, or called a plumber to do so, during that period.
Police and Thomas Simpson are fortunate he was not maimed or killed.
©2025 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
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1 comment:
"What the body cameras show will be critical to the investigation." Thank God the law was just changed; that makes the ENTIRE interaction usable in determining the outcome. From the moment the police arrived; all the way through until their departure. Not just the few seconds before a shot was fired. Home arrests during hours of darkness; MUST be prohibited. They are nefarious and dangerous from their inception.
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