A cellphone dropped by one of the three suspects accused of shooting and carjacking a Dallas police officer led to their arrests, according to court documents.
The cellphone was dropped during a chaotic shootout that ended with a Dallas police officer, Nathaniel Chapman, being shot in the leg Aug. 9.
Chapman was working in a “covert capacity” in the 2400 block of West Northwest Highway and sitting in an unmarked Dodge Challenger when a car pulled up behind him, pinning him in. Three men got out of the car and confronted Chapman at gunpoint, according to video later released by Dallas police.
Chapman complied, but drew his gun and a shootout ensued. He was shot in the left calf before the suspects got in his car and drove away. Chapman’s car was later found about three blocks away, and a cellphone was found near where the carjacking took place, police said.
Inside the phone’s case was a Louisiana instructional permit belonging to Redricous Malik Lewis. Dallas police officers reached out to Shreveport, La., police, who showed them an Instagram account belonging to Lewis. In one of the pictures on the account, Lewis was wearing “a very distinct bright red letterman jacket,” which was an “exact match” to the jacket being worn by one of the suspects in surveillance video of the shooting, according to court documents.
Lewis, 19, along with Xavier Cook, 18 and Redtravion Polk, 17, were arrested in Shreveport on charges of aggravated robbery. Additional charges are pending.
Dallas police Chief Eddie García later said the department is “lucky that Officer Chapman is alive today.”
