John Wiley Price, Dwaine Caraway get in fight at Dallas radio station
DALLAS - A fight broke out between Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price and former Dallas councilman Dwaine Caraway at a Dallas radio station on Monday.
The two are in a fierce battle for the District 3 commissioner's court seat that Price has held for decades. Their heated argument started inside the Heaven 97 (KHVN-AM) studios during a commercial break for a candidate roundtable debate.
Video of the fight was shot by a third candidate, Micah Phillips, who shared the footage with FOX4. It has cursing and shouting and shows people pulling Caraway out of the room.
At one point, Caraway is heard shouting an allegation of a personal nature about his wife and Price. Afterward, Caraway would not explain what he meant. He only said there is more to the video.
"I have no comments about that, none at all. Leave that alone," he said.
Dallas police were called to the station after the incident and took statements from people involved. Police said detectives were working to interview everyone and see if any charges should be filed.
"You see me screaming, but what you should do is call for the full release of the entire video and you'll see why we were screaming, They're not showing him up in the air with the Commissioner's hands around his throat," Caraway said.
One of Caraway's staffer members, George Nash, said Price grabbed him when he tried to step in. Nash showed FOX4 marks on his neck and arm allegedly caused by Price.
Nash said officers photographed the marks on his body. He's not sure whether he'll pursue filing charges. He said he's going to wait for police and the lawyers to advise him.
The two men were separated and taken to other rooms to cool off. They eventually came back and gave short closing statements, ending the debate an hour earlier than scheduled.
Phillips, who released the video to the media, insists Caraway was the aggressor in the scuffle.
"We basically had to keep them from each other," Phillips said. "I can only imagine if something would have connected because I actually saw Dwaine Caraway lunging trying to get at Commissioner Price."
Phillips also said he has received death threats since releasing the video.
KHVN News Director Robert Ashley was hosting the debate on air and said he never saw Caraway or Price actually put hands on each other.
"We wanted to do things decent and in order," Ashley said. "We're on the radio live. We're in the middle of early voting. We're trying to educate our voters. I was disappointed. I was sad. I was embarrassed to a great extent because I wanted to see these men act like men."
Price called into the radio station K104 Tuesday morning to apologize for his behavior. He expressed embarrassment but would not elaborate on what the dispute was about.
"There just seemed to have been a meltdown yesterday and, you know, we're all worse for it. So I really, I just want to apologize to this community," he said.
Caraway also took to the airwaves Tuesday morning to apologize. In an interview with Gordon Keith on The Ticket, he called Price a bully and said he has his own video that shows the commissioner's actions. He said he's turned that video over to police.