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ROYSE CITY, Texas (KTVT) — A three‑and‑a‑half‑minute video clip compilation is among the evidence alleged victims say should be used to fire a Royse City police officer accused of excessive force.
The Royse City Police Department said the officer, who was not named in a statement, has been placed on administrative leave while an internal investigation is underway. The department said it is aware of social media posts showing officers responding to a disturbance call at a community pool on Monday.
Two people were arrested, but charges were dropped pending the outcome of the internal review after complaints about the use of force. The department said it would not comment further.
“This mother stands beside me to my right with more than six dreadlocks removed because the police officer snatched them out of her head,” Minister Dominique Alexander said. “We saw a police officer literally muff, push, sling around a mother and her children, not telling them one time what was the thing that they were accused of. Why are they being detained? And what’s the problem?”
Alexander’s group, Next Generation Action Network (NGAN), is assisting the victims. Three were with him Thursday outside the Royse City Police Department headquarters, demanding body camera video and the officer’s termination.
Witness accounts describe chaotic scene
In the video, as many as five officers can be seen, and shrieks, screams, and cries are heard.
“We were at the pool or whatnot, and there was a couple, an older couple, there,” Amaiyah Allen-Smith said. “It was me, my sisters, all of us, or whatnot. The rest, they’re not here. And there was an older couple there. We were listening to music.”
Allen-Smith said the woman in the couple alerted a pool attendant, then called police. None of that is shown in the NGAN-released video, so CBS News Texas does not have video context of how the incident began. All sides said it stemmed from the call at the community pool.
In the video circulating on social media, a young woman holding a child is shoved in the face by an officer. He appears to be in duty mode when she approaches, before he pushes her, and she strikes back.
Feet away, another officer strikes a shirtless person who appears to be a child multiple times. The officer is also seen putting a woman in a patrol car — the same woman who is shown on the ground having her hair yanked by an officer.
Victims describe lasting trauma and fear
“My anxiety is out the roof. I didn’t think that it would ever get close to home. Right here to happen to me and my family,” Janiaca Wheeler said.
Wheeler said her 4-, 6- and 10-year-old children watched what happened to her. Meanwhile, Zoey Manning said she is still dealing with physical and mental wounds.
“I have soreness in my neck and in my jaw, but mentally it’s been straining. It was very traumatic watching everything happen with them and then also me being assaulted as well,” Manning said.
The timeline for the investigation is unclear. Alexander said they will continue pushing for the release of the body camera video because he believes his clients’ only “charge is being Black.” NGAN plans to attend Royse City’s next city council meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
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