Distraught man crashes pickup into TV station
Michael Fry taken into custody in Dallas
DALLAS — A ranting man repeatedly rammed his pickup truck into the Fox television affiliate’s building in downtown Dallas on Wednesday in an apparent attempt to draw attention to the fatal shooting of an acquaintance by a sheriff’s deputy in 2012, authorities said.
Michael Chadwick Fry, 34, repeatedly crashed into the large windows near the entrance of the building that houses KDFW at around 6 a.m., smashing several of them. The truck hit an unoccupied administrative side of the building before office workers arrived for the day, and no one inside the building was hurt.
After ramming the building for the final time, the man “jumped out and started ranting,” KDFW said in a statement. He wasn’t able to get inside the building.
Reporter Brandon Todd said the man was yelling about “high treason,” and that he believed he had clearly been wronged and that someone was trying to kill him.
“I didn’t want him to get angry,” Todd said. At one point, the man pulled an orange duffel bag out of the truck. Onlookers began to back away and there were concerns he had a bomb, Todd said. Police Senior Cpl. Debra Webb said a bomb squad later determined the bag did not contain any suspicious devices.
Police Major Max Geron reported on social media that Fry had “mental issues” and wanted to bring media attention to the 2012 fatal shooting of an acquaintance, Roberto Hernandez, by a sheriff’s deputy in Denton County, northwest of Dallas. Authorities say the deputy shot and killed Hernandez after he rammed a patrol vehicle, and that Fry was in the car with Hernandez at the time.
Fry was evaluated at a hospital Wednesday before being booked into the Dallas County jail on a criminal mischief charge. While being escorted into the jail, he told WFAA that he was “mentally challenged” and had been “running for (his) life.”