Fort Worth firefighter accused of biting man in bar fight is indicted

A Fort Worth firefighter accused of biting a chunk out of the forehead of a bar patron in January has been indicted on a felony assault charge.

Michael Benningfield, who has been with the Fort Worth Fire Department since March 2012, was suspended without pay until the charge is adjudicated, the Fire Department said in a news release.

Benningfield has been on restricted duty since the incident at the Omni Hotel bar.

The grand jury handed up the indictment Wednesday, according to the Tarrant County district clerk’s online records. Benningfield surrendered for booking Friday and was released on bail.

Benningfield could not be reached to comment Friday. His lawyer, Jim Lane, declined to comment on the specifics of the case.

“We will wait to present our case to a jury, and we think the district attorney’s office over-reached,” Lane said.

On Jan. 10, off-duty Fort Worth police officer V.E. Gray was working security at the Omni Hotel, 1300 Houston St., when he saw two men fighting inside the Whiskey & Rye bar, according to a police report.

Gray ran inside to find the men on the floor. He yelled, “Fort Worth police! Break it up!” the report states.

One of the men, Shawn Merriman, then 39, told investigators that he put his hands up when he heard the officer’s shout. That’s when Benningfield bit him on the forehead, Merriman said. The officer’s report states the bite took a “chunk” out of Merriman’s forehead, just above his right eye.

Unable to break Benningfield’s grip on Merriman, the officer placed his Taser on Benningfield’s stomach area and “drive stunned” the firefighter, causing him to release Merriman.

Merriman told police he was at the bar for a surprise party for his upcoming 40th birthday. He said he bumped Benningfield with his elbow as he worked his way toward the crowded bar to get a glass of water.

Merriman told police he had just told Benningfield, “Excuse me, I need to get in here,” when Benningfield turned around, punched him and grabbed him, and the two men fell to the floor fighting, Merriman said.

When Merriman heard the news of the indictment late Friday, he breathed heavily into the phone and sighed, “About time.”

Merriman said that when the officer saw them wrestling on the floor and shouted to stop, he was ready for the altercation to end. But as he was getting up, Benningfield grabbed his head and latched onto his eyebrow, Merriman said.

When the officer deployed his Taser, Benningfield ripped off part of his forehead and spit it on the floor, Merriman said. Merriman said he carried the chunk of skin to the hospital hoping that doctors could sew it back on.

“They thought it was a dog bite at first,” Merriman said. “They thought an animal had gotten hold of me.”

Benningfield told officers he was sitting at the bar with his wife when Merriman walked up and punched him from behind, according to the report. Benningfield said he turned and grabbed Merriman, and they fell to the floor fighting.

Merriman said if Benningfield had been acting in self-defense the grand jury never would have indicted him.

“It doesn’t matter if he’s a fireman or not,” Merriman said. “These are the people trying to protect us. You can pass deadly diseases like this. I was hoping that the grand jury would be concerned that he might do something like this to someone else. If I had done that to someone, I would have gone to jail that same night.

“It was evident he bit my eyebrow off, and they let him go home.”

This story was originally published August 26, 2016 at 8:39 PM with the headline "Fort Worth firefighter accused of biting man in bar fight is indicted."