CULPABLE

Dallas Police Officer Sues Facebook and Twitter Over 2016 Ambush

The shooting left fifve officers dead and nine people injured.

A Dallas police officer shot during a July 2016 ambush filed a lawsuit against Facebook, Google and Twitter this week, claiming the tech companies helped radicalize the gunman, according to an area CBS affiliate and court documents. Five officers died during the attack and nine people were injured, including the officer who is suing, Jesus Retana. The federal lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of Texas, alleges that these tech titans didn’t do enough to stop the spread of the Hamas propaganda from reaching gunman Micah Johnson, who was eventually killed by cops. Keith Altman, the lawyer who’s representing Retana, reportedly said “Mentally, he’s just not the same person. He has nightmares, sweats. It has a tremendous impact on his life and his husband’s. They suffer every single day from what happened.” Altman argued that “Hamas’ ability to reach into the United States has been greatly enhanced, it’s been greatly enhanced by using social media.” While Altman made similar arguments in a lawsuit he had brought for another injured officer, a judge dismissed the case. The judge had determined that there wasn’t enough proof that Hamas was tied to the incident, per CBS Dallas.