By Tristan Hallman

The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS — A popular cop whose firing last year launched a “#SaveJesus” campaign in Deep Ellum has been reinstated.

Jesus Martinez, who was fired over a confrontation with a panhandler, won his final appeal Wednesday. The civil service review board’s decision was met with jubilation in the Old East Dallas neighborhood — and some criticism of the police chief and the city manager.

Martinez, 31, will get back pay, said Dallas Fraternal Order of Police president Richard Todd.

“The city did the right thing. It just took almost a year to get there,” Todd said.

Chief David Brown, who fired Martinez, said in an email that he believes “in due process for officers and the right to appeal.”

“We respect the decision of the civil service trial board,” the chief said.

Brown had fired Martinez after he confronted Joe Wesson in Deep Ellum. Martinez said Wesson took a swing at him after the officer tried to get him away from people leaving a memorial service.

A passer-by’s video showed Martinez on top of Wesson after the confrontation. Wesson could be heard crying out in pain as Martinez pushed his arms backward over his head.

Many of Martinez’s supporters acknowledged that video didn’t look good. But Martinez said he was blinded by pepper spray he used during the fight to subdue Wesson, who has a criminal history that includes an accusation that he punched an officer.

Martinez was charged with official oppression, but a Dallas County grand jury declined to indict him.

“He should’ve never been fired, and he absolutely should have never been arrested,” Todd said. “Chief Brown put a hardworking officer, an innocent man, in jail.”

Martinez declined to comment at a celebration Wednesday night at a Deep Ellum restaurant.

Martinez’s firing sparked an outpour of support in Deep Ellum. Business owners and residents put up flyers bearing Martinez’s image and captions such as “Jesus is my Homeboy.” A cardboard cutout of a cop and a donut on Elm Street referenced him. A few City Council members, led by Adam Medrano, wore T-shirts. They held fundraisers for him around Christmastime. The Dallas Fraternal Order of Police and the Dallas Police Association, which Martinez isn’t a member of, led a march of dozens of supporters to Dallas City Hall.

A few former officers had said they left the department in part because of Martinez’s firing. Dallas Police Association President Ron Pinkston blasted the chief again Wednesday.

“This just highlights the abuse and mismanagement by the chief of police on the rank-and-file officers of the Dallas Police Department,” Pinkston said. “Jesus was fired after an incomplete investigation and after not interviewing all witnesses.”

City Manager A.C. Gonzalez declined to reinstate Martinez after a May appeal hearing. A civil service review board appeal hearing, which started Tuesday, was Martinez’s last shot.

Todd said he breathed easier after Wednesday’s decision.

“I was really starting to think the system was broken,” he said.

But Wesson’s attorney, Daryl K. Washington, said he didn’t think the hearing was fair because his client wasn’t asked to testify. Washington said the appeal board is sending the wrong message.

“It’s clear you have a situation where this guy was terminated for using excessive force,” he said. “I can’t quite see how the city can come back now and say he didn’t use excessive force.”

Wesson’s civil rights suit against Martinez and the city is pending.

Deep Ellum workers and residents said Wesson was unwelcome in the neighborhood. Martinez, meanwhile, was known as the protector in the area who checked in on people as he started his patrol shift and gave out his personal cellphone number if they needed anything.

Todd said he hopes Martinez will be allowed to return to Deep Ellum.

Stephanie Johnson, who led the campaign to get Martinez rehired, said she was so happy she was shaking.

“While the process had taken much longer than we had hoped, the results were exactly what we all wished for and what we all hoped for,” she said. “The neighborhood of Deep Ellum has always stood by people they consider to be a part of their neighborhood family.”

Copyright 2015 The Dallas Morning News