Interim Dallas City Manager Kim Tolbert will review the discipline handed down to four police officers caught on camera mocking a disabled veteran in a Deep Ellum pizzeria after he urinated himself.
Dallas Community Police Oversight Board Chair John Mark Davidson told board members Tuesday their governing office requested Tolbert decide whether a written reprimand and sensitivity training were enough punishment for the officers who mocked Dynell Lane.
Tolbert has been traveling and dealing with taking over for former city manager T.C. Broadnax, so the board won’t get her findings for another two weeks once she returns and discusses the case with Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia.
Officers denied Lane access to a restroom last year despite trying to show them documentation that he could use employee restrooms due to his disability. Body camera footage later showed the officers laughing and joking about the situation.
An internal investigation cleared the officers of any wrongdoing, but that investigation was reopened after Lane showed up to a public meeting and recounted the incident to board members.
District 14 board member Brandon Friedman said the city manager usually wouldn't automatically take on disciplinary review.
“Because this was such an incendiary case in the city of Dallas, after DPD came down with its announcements of what it was going to do to discipline the officers, we thought it would be prudent to request a review by the city manager’s office to make sure that they were comfortable with DPD’s decision,” he said.
In August, Lane told the board he was injured during deployments to Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq. Ally's Law requires retailers to provide those with eligible medical conditions access to employee restrooms.
DPD’s Internal Affairs Department sent Lane a letter in late March detailing the outcome of the investigation, but he later requested a review of the findings from the Office of Community Police Oversight. He said the officers should be fired.
Board members said at their April meeting they wanted elaboration on whether the officers’ sensitivity training includes topics like Ally’s Law before accepting the discipline. Friedman said if the city manager’s office accepts it, there’s not much the board can do.
“I was hoping that we would have the answer today,” he said. “But I guess we’ll have to wait another couple weeks.”
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