Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said Thursday that two officers, including a corporal who is accused of using pepper spray, were arrested after a handcuffed woman in the back of a police vehicle repeatedly shouted racial slurs. I was fired.
Senior Corporal Lontrell Tatum was fired for violating several DPD policies, including unnecessary or inappropriate use of force. Use profane or vulgar language. After he pepper-sprayed the inmates, he offered no medical treatment. He did not secure the prisoners with seat belts during transport. He made contradictory or misleading statements about the use of pepper spray, according to emails sent to officers obtained by police. dallas morning news.
In a separate disciplinary hearing, the chief said he fired Officer Carlos Garcia Romero, who had been with the DPD since 2016, for making inappropriate and sexual comments to a woman during a dispatch. Email obtained. news Said. He also violated DPD's body camera policy, his email states.
“When we are right, we are right. I will steadfastly defend my people,” Garcia said in a written statement. news. “But we have standards, and I have standards. And when we're wrong, we hold ourselves accountable to the community and to the honorable men and women of the Dallas Police Department.”
Dallas Police Association President Jaime Castro said he represented both officers at the disciplinary hearing, but declined to comment.
The details of the allegations against Romero are not clear at this time. He declined to comment when reached by phone Thursday.
Internal records obtained news A public records request outlined the department's allegations against Tatum, who has been with DPD since 2013. The former senior corporal was under criminal investigation in connection with an incident on July 13, 2022, records state. No comments were received.
Tatum and other officers responded to a large disturbance in the 1600 block of Chestnut Street and arrested a woman on charges of theft and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly threatening someone with a knife, according to records detailing the criminal investigation. was restrained. A police witness told police that the woman called for a white officer and repeatedly called Tatum the “N-word,” which appeared to anger Tatum, according to records.
Records show the woman was handcuffed and placed in the back seat of a police vehicle while screaming, and police did not put her seatbelt on. A witness, a rookie officer, told police that he asked Tatum if he should fasten the woman's seat belt, but Tatum told her not to worry.
The woman continued to scream and make slurs, and Tatum appeared to try to turn up the volume on the car radio to drown out the noise, records show. Records show the woman said racial slurs to Tatum at least 12 times, and at one point Tatum responded by saying he would “make her mad” if she said the N-word again. It is said that
As the woman continued to scream, Tatum told the rookie police officer who was driving to close his eyes, then turned around and pepper-sprayed the woman, records show. Video reviewed by investigators showed the woman's face facing the window behind her as Tatum turned and fired the pepper spray for about two seconds. Records show the droplets struck the woman in the back seat above her left shoulder.
Records show the rookie officer told Tatum he was allergic to pepper spray and pulled over while he was coughing. Tatum told officers he didn't need to wear a body camera because he was “recording in the back,” according to records. The rookie officer said he didn't see Tatum turn off his dash camera, according to records. She then collected herself and continued driving, records state.
Records show the detained woman continued to bang her head against the back of the car, said “I'm going to kill you,” asked for water and demanded that the officer roll down the window.
When officers arrived at the jail, other officers helped pull the woman from the car. Tatum denied spraying the other officers, and she did not provide documentation that she used pepper spray, records show.
In footage reviewed by investigators, the woman can be seen asking the officer for water and asking him to open the door so she can breathe, records state. Records show that about 22 minutes passed between the time the spray was fired and the time she was removed from her car.
Records show the rookie officer reported the incident to his primary handler and other superiors.
During questioning, Tatum told investigators about the slur and said he used pepper spray to try to calm the woman down, but ended up escalating the situation, records said.
He then reportedly told the woman, “Once you calm down, I'll bring you some water.'' Tatum didn't believe the spray had an effect on the woman, and she told officers that's why she didn't use it, records said.
Tatum said he wasn't targeting women, but “saturating the area,” according to records. He said the arrest report was not very detailed because it was written by a new person, and he is on record as saying he tried to get the woman to drink water while in jail.
The criminal charges — charges of official oppression — were referred to a Dallas County grand jury, records show. Although the outcome is unknown, it appears that no criminal charges were recorded on Tatum's record.
