Four Dallas police officers received a written reprimand after they were caught on camera laughing at a disabled veteran who said he was forced to urinate himself after being denied access to a Deep Ellum pizzeria restroom last year, a department official told oversight board members Tuesday.
The officers will now have to go through some type of training program, though DPD Internal Affairs Division Major Irene Alanis did not provide specifics.
“I know that it would have some sensitivity nexus to it, but the specific block of instruction that will be provided or where they will have to sit in on, I do not know,” Alanis said. “I do believe that the academies will have to work with the assistant chief to see exactly what direction he’s wanting to go in and what training those officers are to attend.”
Dynell Lane said two off-duty police officers working security denied him access to the restroom despite having documentation showing he had a disability that allowed him to use the public restroom.
The officers were initially cleared of any wrongdoing, but the case was later reopened after the body camera footage came to light in an August Community Police Oversight Board meeting. The video shows four officers standing in side the restaurant, laughing and joking about the incident.
“You guys made a guy pee himself?” said one on-duty officer, who could be heard laughing on the tape.
“He got mad you guys wouldn’t let him use the restroom," another on-duty officer can be heard saying. "Then he calls back and said it’s OK he doesn’t need to pee anymore."
Lane says he was deployed in Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq, and was injured in the line of duty. He was in a wounded warrior regiment for a year and a half, where he said he underwent lower-body surgery. The injuries, he said, left his life "drastically changed."
States around the country including Texas have passed bathroom access legislation known as Ally's Laws, which allow people with certain disabilities to access employee bathrooms in retail spaces if there is no publicly available restroom.
It was revealed last month that an internal affairs investigation into the four officers was briefly put on hold because of an employee on family medical leave. It's not clear how long the investigation was on hold, and DPD has declined to confirm the timeline because it involves a personnel matter.
The Community Police Oversight Board's authority to investigate claims of misconduct recently came into question after board members saida confidential legal opinion shared with them in February made it clear they were only allowed to investigate certain complaints — contrary to what the board says has been its mandate for years.
According to the members, they were told a civilian can submit a complaint either through the police department or though the community oversight office — not through both. If the DPD office of internal affairs declines to investigate a complaint, the board can not then do so.
Additional reporting from KERA's Paul DeBenedetto and Toluwani Osibamowo.
