Fired police officer receives settlement; defends shooting

Dallas Morrison had been a member of the Red Oak police department for eight years.

But in those eight years, he didn’t forget what he considers to be the most important lesson he learned in the police academy.

“They stress in the academy: officer safety, officer safety, officer safety,” Morrison said. “In the simplest form, that’s what it was.”

The “it” to which Morrison is referring is his decision to fire three warning shots, or as he refers to them, attention shots, during a pursuit of a suspect that had been branded “armed and dangerous.”

Morrison was one of three officers patrolling the streets of Red Oak on a stormy night Aug. 16. One of the officers ran a check on a suspect who was seen pumping gas at a local station. Dispatch reported the suspect, Michael Mundorf, 37, did not have a valid license, and as a result, Morrison attempted to stop the tow truck at the intersection of First and Corning Street.

Mundorf refused to stop, and the pursuit began.

Before attempting the stop, Morrison was informed of a state patrol issued warrant for Mundorf’s arrest. Attached to that warrant, the state patrol added they considered the suspect armed and dangerous, which didn’t surprise Morrison.

“Several years ago, our department had arrested this suspect, took some drugs off of him out of his car, and he also had a loaded firearm in his vehicle with him,” Morrison said. “So there is some history there with the firearm plus with the state patrol warrant, you are kind of amped up.”

Then during the pursuit, Morrison said Mundorf turned his vehicle into a deadly weapon.

Somewhere out here by CDS, John Deere, out in this section, he goes into the side, goes into the driver’s door basically of our reserve officer, rams him. So he’s using deadly force at that point against the officer.

“Somewhere out here by CDS, John Deere, out in this section, he goes … into the driver’s door basically of our reserve officer’s cruiser, [and] rams him,” Morrison said. “So he’s using deadly force at that point against the officer.”

The pursuit entered rural Pottawattamie County, and Mundorf turned down a dirt road. With the heavy rains, it didn’t take long for Mundorf to lose control of his vehicle, which spinned into a ditch, exposing the passenger side of the vehicle to the pursuing police officers.

At this point in the pursuit, a sheriff’s deputy was the lead pursuit car, and was directly behind the tow truck. Morrison’s cruiser was next, an estimated 30 yards behind the deputy, followed by the remaining cruisers.

To Morrison’s surprise, he then saw the tow truck’s passenger door open, and someone other than Mundorf exit the vehicle.

“I know the defendant, and I didn’t recognize this guy,” Morrison said. “So right then, I’m like two people, at least two, one of which we know has a history of firearms, and he has the warning on his warrant.”

The passenger, Frank Kuntz, 62, and Mundorf ran into a nearby cornfield, and the sheriff’s deputy started to follow.

That was the last thing Morrison wanted to see.

“I’m thinking … stop, me and the other guys aren’t going to be able to get up to you in time to go in there with you,” Morrison said. “I’m yelling at him to stop, I’m motioning, [but] he doesn’t hear me with the sirens going, [and] he’s caught in the moment.

“So I didn’t want him going into that cornfield after those two by himself. By the time he had gotten up there, we would have lost a deputy and wouldn’t have known where he was. And if shots had broken out, we would have been shooting each other, we wouldn’t have known who was who.”

And with the sheriff’s deputy as the primary pursuer in a rural part of a neighboring county, Morrison couldn ‘t communicate with him via radio.

“And as far as the radios go, you get far enough away from town, they just don’t work,” Morrison said.

It was at that point Morrison made a decision that eventually cost him his job.

“I made a decision at that time to pull my firearm and fired three shots into the air to get his attention, which it did,” Morrison said. “He stopped and looked back and sees us and he retreats and takes cover behind his cruiser, and we all group together and come up with a plan.”

After clearing the suspect’s vehicle, officers started to search the cornfield, and quickly apprehended Kuntz. Mundorf evaded arrest that night, but would be arrested a few days later.

After returning to the sheriff’s department with Kuntz, Morrison said he was met there by Police Chief Drue Powers. Powers informed him firing warning shots was a violation of department policy.

“I didn’t know how to get a hold of the guy, I was yelling for him and he didn’t hear me, we had different radios, what did you want me to do? I didn’t want him to go into the cornfield,” Morrison said. “I said sorry chief for putting you into a corner with city hall potentially, but I did what I thought was right at the time.”

Morrison said he reached an agreement with Powers that night to take a two-day suspension. But Powers later contacted Morrison, and informed him he made a procedural mistake, and that the officer would be placed on administrative leave.

After a preliminary hearing in which Morrison explained what happened that night, he was fired a few weeks later at a disciplinary hearing.

Morrison filed for unemployment benefits, and the city contested it. However, the state-assigned judge ruled in Morrison’s favor, adding Powers admitted the department doesn’t define warning shots that are prohibited, and that Morrison had not received training on the issue.

“Warning shots are commonly known as a police action directed at a suspect, not a means to communicate to a fellow officer of a pending danger,” Judge Randy Stephenson wrote.

Stephenson confirmed Morrison’s concern for the deputy’s safety.

“[Morrison] knew Rhamy was unaware that the felon may be armed and dangerous, and wanted to make sure (he) was safe from harm,” Stephenson wrote. “[The Deputy] retreated from his pursuit when he heard shots.”

Morrison also filed a grievance with the Teamsters, and at a Dec. 7 hearing, the city offered Morrison a settlement: he could resign his position and receive 14 weeks of back pay, but he could never work for the department again.

With every intention to get out of law enforcement and work full-time at UPS, Morrison accepted.

During his termination hearing, Morrison said his attorney asked Powers what the officer should have done instead, to which the chief responded “I don’t know.”

When asked the same question during an unemployment hearing, Powers response changed, according to Morrison.

“His answer that time is they should have just let the deputy go into the field and waited for the K-9. I said ‘I’m not comfortable with that,’” Morrison said. “I’m never going to let any cop put himself in a bad spot. I can get a new job, I can’t replace my friend.”

Morrison said now the issue is legally resolved, he believes its important the public knows the real story.

“Firing warning shots … I think people think I sent a couple rounds past someone’s head. That’s not the case at all,” Morrison said. “We are in a rural part of Pottawattamie County. It’s not like I cracked off a bunch of rounds in town. There was nothing reckless about it. I thought a guy was going into a bad spot and I wanted to stop him. It’s as simple as that.”