FORT WORTH, Texas — A former Keller police sergeant pleaded guilty Thursday to illegally pepper-spraying and arresting a man who filmed his son’s interactions with Keller police in August 2020.
Blake Shimanek entered the plea on a charge to official oppression, a Class A misdemeanor.
With this plea, Shimanek was admitted to the Public Safety Employee Treatment Court, which is a diversion program run by Judge Charles Vanover, who presides over County Criminal Court 8.
The diversion program can last anywhere from nine months to two years.
The incident occurred Aug. 15, 2020, during the arrest of Marco Puente, when officers pepper-sprayed him in the face while pinning him to the ground and handcuffing him.
As part of the plea, Shimanek was required to forfeit his peace officer license, which means he is barred from working in law enforcement in Texas.
“Our top priority is to make sure that he never works in law enforcement in Texas again,” Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney Sharen Wilson said in a Thursday news release. “That has been accomplished. We also consulted with the victim and he agreed to this plea.”
If Shimanek successfully completes the diversion program, the judge will later dismiss the case.
If he fails, he will be sentenced for the offense. A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by a maximum fine of $4,000 and jail time of up to one year.
A Tarrant County grand jury indicted Shimanek on the charge in May 2021.
Shimanek resigned from the Keller Police Department on Feb. 1, 2021. The Puente family settled their civil rights claim with the city of Keller for $200,000.
Marco Puente’s arrest gained national attention after the family filed a lawsuit against Shimanek and another Keller officer.
The entire incident was video recorded on multiple police dashboard and body cameras. The Keller police chief apologized for his officers’ behavior two days later and said they were in the wrong, according to the federal lawsuit Puente and his attorneys filed against the officers on Dec. 15, 2020.
Shimanek ordered Officer Antik Tomer to arrest and pepper-spray Puente while Puente filmed his son’s arrest following a traffic stop. Puente, an emergency electrician who grew up in Keller, was left without medical attention for 15 minutes.
“It was a terrible feeling,” Puente told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in a December 2020 interview. “It was claustrophobic, I couldn’t breathe. I was hot, burning. In the police video you can hear me yelling for help, and saying, ‘Give me something to alleviate this.’”
Shimanek claimed Puente blocked a roadway, but a subsequent investigation found Puente did nothing wrong.
Shimanek had pulled Puente’s son over for making a wide right turn.
In the video, Shimanek walks up to Dillon Puente’s window, which is about three-fourths of the way rolled up, and tells him to roll it the rest of the way down. He asks Dillon Puente to step out and put his hands on the car, which he does. He starts handcuffing the 22-year-old, and asks him, “Why are you acting so suspicious?”
Marco Puente pulls up in the truck across the street and yells to his son, asking what happened. Dillon Puente yells back that he rolled up his window and Shimanek got mad. Marco Puente starts recording the arrest on his cellphone.
“You’re about to be arrested for blocking the roadway if you don’t park and get out,” Shimanek yells to Marco Puente, who is parked by the curb on the opposite side of the street. “You’re interfering with my job.”
Marco Puente, at Shimanek’s demand, backs up the truck and parks in front of his wife’s grandfather’s house. He gets out of the truck and walks up the sidewalk, still recording.
Tomer then pulls up at the scene and begins trying to arrest Marco Puente on Shimanek’s orders. Shimanek walks across street and puts Puente in a headlock and knocks his phone from his hand. He and Tomer push Puente to the ground and Shimanek sits on his back and cuffs him. Shimanek tells Tomer to spray Puente, and Tomer starts spraying him in the face. He takes Puente’s sunglasses off and sprays him again in the eyes.
Dillon Puente paid the traffic ticket for making a wide right hand turn and was released from jail shortly after his arrest. Marco Puente wasn’t charged with anything.
Keller Police Chief Brad Fortune hosted two town halls about Puente’s arrest as the community demanded accountability.
Shimanek was demoted from sergeant to officer before he resigned. Tomer was not disciplined because he was following orders from a supervising officer. The internal affairs investigation found Shimanek showed conduct unbecoming of an officer, and that Marco Puente did not block the roadway or interfere with Shimanek’s duties, as Shimanek claimed.
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(This report contains information from the Star-Telegram’s archives.)
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