Youth coach accused of cursing may end up in jail

Jessica Curs was arrested on charges of evading arrest, weeks after an off-duty police officer from a neighboring city claimed she called him a "dick" as she coached a little league basketball game. Now she faces a maximum of three years in prison. Photo courtesy of the Alvarado Police Department less Jessica Curs was arrested on charges of evading arrest, weeks after an off-duty police officer from a neighboring city claimed she called him a "dick" as she coached a little league basketball game. Now she ... more Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Youth coach accused of cursing may end up in jail 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

UPDATE: Criminal charges against Jessica Curs have been dropped, her lawyer said in a statement Wednesday evening.

"We believe Captain Melson's actions were an abuse of his authority as a law enforcement officer," said attorney Jonathan Michell. "At this time we are considering all of our client's options to protect her rights and make sure that something like this never happens again."

ORIGINAL POST: When a little league coach turned to shut down a heckler at a girls' basketball game, she knew he was an off-duty police officer, but she never imagined she'd end up facing a year of jail time.

Now Jessica Curs, the 31-year-old mother and veteran youth league coach, is crying foul, and the local police department is firing back.

Her first interview about the incident appeared Monday on KTXA TV in Dallas, and the following day Alvarado police chief Brad Anderson posted a scathing 1,100-word Facebook post (since deleted, see full text below) criticizing KTXA, defending his captain and offering a very different narrative.

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Here's what they agree on: In mid-February, Curs was coaching a 4th grade girls' basketball game for the Burleson Youth Association against Alvarado. Burleson and Alvarado, two small cities, about 10 miles apart and south of Fort Worth, are classic rivals with a history of uncordial relations, especially in youth sports.

Alvarado police captain Gary Melson was keeping score.

Curs said Melson was sitting directly behind her, on the side of the court reserved for only coaches, the score keeper and the school monitor. Melson, in a T-shirt and jeans, heckled her throughout the game, the coach said.

With two minutes left in the game a foul was called, and Curs said Melson offered a snide comment.

"That's when I turned around. What I wanted to say was 'quit being a dipsh-t,' but all I said was quit being a dip ..." she said. "No one heard it except for him and me."

But in his Facebook post, Chief Anderson wrote "Curs screamed out a profanity, namely using the word 'dick' in front of bleachers full of parents and kids. This action caused numerous parents to rise to their feet and began confronting Curs, complaining and demanding action from APD Capt. Melson." He reiterated that claim in an interview with the Chronicle.

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Curs called that "extremely inaccurate." Burleson Youth Association treasurer Paul Friedman said the association did an internal investigation after the incident. But since all the parents were sitting on the far side of the gym, none had any knowledge of what happened, he said.

Friedman said that only the referee, Andy Love, had some recollection of the spat.

"I turn to report my foul and I've got some guy standing on the edge of the gym floor grabbing a coach by the arm, trying to pull her off the court," Love told KTXA.

In spite of Chief Anderson's assertion that Curs "has a history of questionable behavior," Friedman said he's never received a complaint about her in the nine years he's manned the group's email account.

At the basketball game, Melson flashed his badge and ordered Curs to leave the gym and talk with him in the parking lot. So with two minutes left in the last game of an undefeated season, she forfeited the game on behalf of her team and followed Melson outside.

According to Chapter 14 of the Texas code of Criminal Procedure, an off-duty police officer who is outside his jurisdiction may detain or arrest someone if they cause "a breach of the peace."

As tears streamed from Curs' players in the parking lot, Melson called the Burleson police, but after a brief investigation decided not to press charges for disorderly conduct. That seemed like the end of it.

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But two weeks later, Curs got a startling letter in the mail: a warrant for her arrest on charges of evading arrest. She turned herself in the next day, got booked, paid her bail, spent six hours in jail and was released. That seemed like the end of it.

In spite of urging from friends and community members to challenge the apparent injustice, Curs wanted to leave it behind her.

But on Friday, Curs' attorney Jonathan Michell told her that the district attorney would take up her case--that she would go to trial on Class A Misdemeanor charges and could face up to a year behind bars.

So Curs called KTXA TV, which she said had been asking for an interview since the incident occurred, and consented to go on the record.

"Everyone has told me 'you need to do something about this, you can't let this guy get away with this," she said. "Finally I agreed. I'm not going to sit and let them do this to me."

FULL TEXT OF THE ALVARADO POLICE DEPARTMENT'S TUESDAY FACEBOOK POST, SINCE DELETED:

*warning, language may not be suitable for everyone*

Press Release Regarding Jessica Curs Arrest:

First, I would like to address CBS 11's reporting on this, and other incidents.

I was first introduced to unethical reporting many months ago when CBS 11 lied about wanting an interview and then took that information and twisted it for another purpose. During this time, prior to CBS 11 airing another unrelated story, I met with CBS 11′s Senior Investigative Producer in my office and discussed Jessica Curs. At this time I provided CBS with a copy of the affidavit used to obtain the warrant for Curs as well as her book-in photo. The situation was completely explained to him then and he and I corresponded many times through email, in which he described Curs actions as a "tirade". It was only after CBS aired an unrelated/twisted story, and then pulled said story for obvious inaccuracies, that an in-person interview request was later denied regarding Curs. CBS was instructed to address any questions they would like answered to our department and they would be answered. This never happened.

The incident regarding Curs should and could have been resolved that day. Curs pressed the issue and her actions dictated the response from a police officer. Curs screamed out a profanity, namely using the word "dick", in front of bleachers full of parents and kids. This action caused numerous parents to rise to their feet and began confronting Curs, complaining, and demanding action from APD Capt. Melson. Capt. Melson approached Curs and instructed her to step outside the area of play to deescalate the situation. This is where the matter could have been resolved with Curs being told to refrain from using profane language in public. Capt. Melson asked Curs three times, showed her his badge/department identification card, told her he was a police officer, and that she needed to step aside and speak with him.

Curs committed the offense of disorderly conduct:

TEXAS PENAL CODE TITLE 9. OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC ORDER AND DECENCY

CHAPTER 42. DISORDERLY CONDUCT AND RELATED OFFENSES

Sec. 42.01. DISORDERLY CONDUCT.

(a) A person commits an offense if he intentionally or knowingly:

(1) uses abusive, indecent, profane, or vulgar language in a public place, and the language by its very utterance tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace;

And in regards to Capt. Melson being outside the city of Alvarado:

CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE TITLE 1. CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

CHAPTER 14. ARREST WITHOUT WARRANT

Art. 14.03. AUTHORITY OF PEACE OFFICERS.

(d) A peace officer who is outside his jurisdiction may arrest, without warrant, a person who commits an offense within the officer's presence or view, if the offense is a felony, a violation of Chapter 42 or 49, Penal Code, or a breach of the peace.

Ideally an off-duty officer does not want to get involved in situations like this one. But when being an officer is known by the majority of the people present, and the officer is asked to act, it is hard not to.

Curs refused this lawful order from Capt. Melson and pulled away. Curs was assisted by her husband and others in putting distance between herself and Capt. Melson for the obvious reason she knew she was in the wrong. Capt. Melson's response was also fueled by many complaints by parents that wanted something done in regards to Curs' comment. These complainants were documented and supplied to the Johnson County Attorney's office, not the "Burleson prosecutors" as the CBS story notes. After the incident was looked at from all angles, the decision was made to issue a warrant for Curs for evading arrest.

Curs committed the offense of evading arrest or detention:

TEXAS PENAL CODE TITLE 8. OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

CHAPTER 38. OBSTRUCTING GOVERNMENTAL OPERATION

Sec. 38.04: Texas Statutes: EVADING ARREST OR DETENTION

(a) A person commits an offense if he intentionally flees from a person he knows is a peace officer or federal special investigator attempting lawfully to arrest or detain him.

CBS also falsely reported "Both the Alvarado school district and a private youth association that was using the gym told the I-Team they did not ask police to issue the warning" in regards to the issuing of a criminal trespass warning against Curs. The warning was issued by Kevin Bjork, a representative of AYSA, the governing youth sports body of Alvarado (Alvarado Youth Sports Association), as requested by the AYSA basketball director. The criminal trespass warning was then voided by the AYSA by allowing Curs to stay and watch her daughter play in a game. A copy of this warning with all above noted person's signatures was provided to the Johnson County Attorney's Office.

APD Investigators tried to obtain the video from BISD officials within the retention time period. BISD turned over a video for this case but had copied the wrong time period. This was discovered after hours on a Friday and the district then went on spring break. This time frame made it impossible to obtain the correct video in light of the district only retaining their video for 14 days.

Youth sports are very important and an involved activity and happens everywhere year round. Unfortunately some adults see this as a stage they can act out on and the rules and laws do not apply to them. To these parents this incident should be a sobering reminder that they are wrong. The example and message that you should and can yell profanities in public places and think this behavior is acceptable is sickening. Furthermore, the current message is the empty can rattles the most, and hope you don't have to be held accountable for your actions.

Another element left out of this story was that Curs has a history of questionable behavior that has led to her to being removed from games/events, etc. This incident seems to be on par with Curs' past and the environment she thrives in. Chants of "fuck you Alvarado" could be heard from the facility as the teams left.

As with most cases, the person at fault here is Curs and Curs directed her own path which resulted in her subsequent arrest and pending court case. Curs found a voice with CBS and together they constructed a story based on unethical reporting. This story, in addition to others, cements our decision to carefully guard any information supplied to CBS. The Alvarado Police Department has always interacted and cooperated well with all news outlets and will continue to do so.