Suspect charged in shooting death of Texas on-duty trooper

Associated Press

DALLAS

The suspect in the fatal shooting of a state trooper in East Texas during a Thanksgiving Day traffic stop was charged Friday with capital murder of a law-enforcement officer.

Dabrett Black, 32, was being held in the Brazos County jail in Bryan, Texas, about 100 miles northwest of Houston.

He is accused in the shooting death of Trooper Damon Allen on Thursday.

The Texas Department of Public Safety said in social media posts late Thursday that Allen initiated a traffic stop shortly before 4 p.m. on Interstate 45 near Fairfield, about 90 miles south of Dallas.

DPS said Black shot Allen with a rifle after the trooper walked back to his vehicle.

Allen died at the scene, DPS officials said. He had been with the department since 2002 and was married with four children.

DPS said Black, of Lindale, Texas, fled the scene in a car and was spotted about three hours later more than 100 miles south of Fairfield, in Waller County. Waller County sheriff’s officers posted on Facebook that deputies were attempting to take Black into custody when shots were fired. It was not clear from the statement who opened fire.

Black fled on foot and was taken into custody after being found in a nearby field. He was treated for nonlife-threatening injuries.

Court and jail records show Black has a history of evading arrest and violent run-ins with law-enforcement officers.

A magistrate judge who heard official charges against Black declined to hold a bond hearing Friday.