Avi S.

Adelman
5620 East Side Avenue
Dallas Texas 75214
Telephone 214.824.5771 / Fax 214.292.9761 / Avi@AviAdelman.com

TO

Dallas Police Department

Internal Affairs Division

CC

Chief John Lawton

Alfreda Coffey
Lonzo Anderson

DPD Central Division

DPD Central Division
DPD Central Division

CC

Mickey Osterreicher

General Counsel
National Press Photographers Association

Date

November 23, 2015

Re

Dallas Police Officer Ransom Funches, Badge #6960

The attached document shall serve as a formal complaint against Dallas Police Department Officer
RANSOM FUNCHES, Badge #6960.
A signed copy will be mailed to Internal Affairs on Monday.
Sincerely,

Avi S. Adelman
Dallas

Statement by Avi S. Adelman

Submitted November 23, 2015
Regarding

Dallas Police Department Officer Ransom Funches, Badge #6960

On Thursday, November 12, 2015, at approximately 230pm, Complainant was listening to his police
scanner when he heard radio traffic regarding a stolen vehicle which had been stopped at the intersection
of Lindsley Avenue and Valencia Street in East Dallas, in the Central Division.
Complainant arrived on the scene and parked his vehicle one street west of the accident scene, and
walked to the scene. On arrival he observed two DPD squad cars parked on Lindsley Avenue facing
east, two officers and a minor sitting on the curb in front of the crashed-out vehicle.
Complainant was carrying one large Nikon D300S camera with an 18/200 zoom lens, attached to a strap
and slung over his chest. Complainant was wearing a bright safety-green colored windbreaker, so the
black camera and strap were clearly visible. Complainants business card and NPPA membership card
are attached to the back strap.
Inside the squad car was a female civilian sitting in the front seat, and a male of unknown age (later
determined to be a suspect in the car theft) sitting in the back seat.
Complainant approached the vehicles but did not get closer than 50 feet. At this point, an officer later
identified as Officer Raymond Funches yelled at the complainant to get back away from the vehicles.
Complainant complied and proceeded to walk across Lindsley Avenue, where he took photographs of
the crashed vehicle and the unidentified minor sitting on the curb. Complainant walked up to the corner
of Lindsley and Valencia, then crossed the street again at the corner. Complainant stood on the lawn of
the corner property, identified as 801 Valencia Street, approximately 45 feet from the minor sitting on
the curb and the crashed out vehicle.
At no time did Complainant initiate a conversation with any of the officers or the minor. He simply
observed and photographed the scene.
During the course of his presence, Complainant noted that Officer Funches was looking directly at the
Complainant while leaning into a vehicle window. Whatever Officer was saying to the persons in the
vehicle or to the Complainant, if any, were not clearly heard over the noise of traffic or leaf blowers in
the area.
Complainant decided to test if Officer Funches was directly observing him, by stepping to his left a foot,
thereby allowing a tree on the residential property to block his view of Officer Funches and vice versa.
Immediately after this step was made, Officer Funches leaned back from the vehicle in order to see the
Complainant.

A few minutes later, Officer Funches and another officer were holding a conversation with the minor,
and between each other, which Complainant believes was in order to determine what action will be
taken to clear the minor from the scene, get his identification, etc.
By this time, Complainant had activated the voice recorder on his phone, anticipating that Officer
Funches would make some kind of statement to him. Within moments, Officer Funches began yelling at
the Complainant. The following summary was extracted from the phone recorder; the quality of the
recording was extremely poor, so Complainant has filed an Open Records Request for the bodycam
tapes so a complete and accurate transcript may be prepared.
(O)fficer Funches - Do you have anything better to do with your life?
(A)vi Adelman - You have a problem, sir??
(O) - Yeah, I have a problem with you pointing a camera at me...
(A) - That's a good deal, sir, I appreciate...
(O) - You don't have anything better to do with your time???
(A) - You have no right to say that, sir.
(O) - I said, do you have anything better to do with your time??
(A) - Sir, are you asking me to leave?
(O) - Yes, I am asking you...
(A) - Okay, I am not going anywhere...
Talking to the minor on the curb.....
(O) .... come out here... to irritate me.. when pointing that camera at me... have nothing better to
do than come out here and act like a child...
After about 30 minutes, Complainant left the scene.
Included in this package are copies of all the photographs shot by Complainant, and the Voice Recorder
file referenced in the above summary.
A complete set of photographs have been posted to my server, at this link
http://photographeronboard.com/funches/

Complaints against Officer Ransom Funches, Badge #6960

1. That Officer Funches displayed unprofessional behavior and conduct unbecoming a Dallas
Police Department officer;

2. That Officer Funches was verbally abusive towards Complainant and spoke in an aggressive
manner towards the Complainant, with no reason for such a display of emotion;

3. That Officer Funches made statements and requests which contradict the Dallas Police
Departments standards of conduct and behavior towards the public;

4. That Officer Funches made statements and demands which directly contradict the Dallas Police
Departments policy regarding the exercise of the First Amendment, in this case, the taking of
photographs of officers carrying out their official duties in a public right of way;

5. That Officer Funches displayed emotional outbursts which caused the Complainant to believe he
could be subject to an illegal arrest, detention or other action designed to prevent further
photography of the scene;

6. That Officer Funches issued illegal requests to the Complainant to stop taking photographs of the
minor and himself;

7. And, that Officer Funches issued an illegal order to the Complainant to leave the scene.
Complainant requests the Department professionally and thoroughly investigate these complaints, and
should they be determined to be accurate, to mete out punishment(s) to the officer as Departmental
policy.

Complainant also requests the Department determine, upon review of the bodycam files and the
photographs, that any actions not listed above be documented and added to this complaint.

Regards,

Avi S. Adelman
5620 East Side Avenue, Dallas TX 75214

214.923.3562

avi@aviadelman.com

Some of the referenced photographs are included below.

A complete set of all photographs is included on a disk with this complaint, delivered to the Dallas
Police Department.