Arlington police sergeant charged with assaulting family member
An Arlington police sergeant was charged with assault of a family member on Monday, according to the police department.
Officers responded to the 400 block of Bardin Greene Drive on Dec. 15 on a domestic assault call where they identified Frank Vacante as one of the people involved.
Vacante is assigned as a sergeant in the Support Operations Bureau and has been with Arlington police for 12 years, the Arlington Police Department said in a press release.
Vacante turned himself in at the Tarrant County Jail on Monday on a charge of assault — family violence/impeding breath circulation.
Vacante was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the criminal and internal investigation, per usual department policy.
In 2015, Vacante was suspended for five days in connection with the death of an inmate at the Arlington city jail. Vacante was the sergeant on duty when Jonathan Ryan Paul, 42, died at the jail after being pepper-sprayed and physically restrained by other officers.
Vacante was in his office when the confrontation between Paul and the officers happened, and was not aware of the interaction until one of the officers requested emergency medical services for Paul.
An internal review found Vacante did not take “appropriate initiative” to find out why paramedics were needed and had not established expectations on reporting use-of-force encounters.
Two detention officers — Steve Schmidt and Pedro Medina — were indicted in November 2015 on criminally negligent homicide charges, and two other jailers — Matt Fisher and Wes Allen — were fired.
In 2018, Vacante was the valedictorian of the 124th class of the Institute for Law Enforcement Administration School of Supervision, according to a Facebook post from the Arlington Police Department.
