Despite Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson blaming “outsiders” for violence at protests in the city, nearly everyone arrested was a resident of Dallas or the surrounding area.
The Texas Tribune reported that of the 185 people arrested by the Dallas Police Department, 172 of them live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Only seven people live outside of Texas, according to data provided by the city of Dallas.
“The violence, vandalism and theft that we saw committed by some groups of people over the weekend is not reflective of the city that I know,” Johnson said at the Tuesday press conference. “And much of it was perpetrated by people who are not residents of the city of Dallas. They don't pay taxes here. It's not their property they're destroying.”
Johnson maintained the city “will not tolerate those who want to come into our city and exploit these peaceful protests.”
Tristan Hallman, a spokesman for Johnson, said the data reveals more than half of the people arrested are “not actually in the city of Dallas.”
Johnson is “mayor of the city of Dallas, not of the Dallas-Fort Worth area,” Hallman told the Tribune.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump praised Texas in a Wednesday morning tweet, saying it’s “in great shape.”
Trump was responding to a tweet posted by someone who shared a quote from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott about the fact that the state does not need help from the U.S. military to deal with protests happening nationwide.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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