One Wichita Falls police officer has been fired, and another has resigned amidst investigations of police brutality allegations.
Police Chief Manuel Borrego said Thursday that officer Daniel Wilson was fired, and officer Douglas Gulley resigned after being suspended.
The actions resulted from an Aug. 26 incident at the McDonald’s restaurant at 1412 Holliday St. where Victoria Lang was arrested and taken to jail, officials said.
Borrego did not provide details of what happened.
But he said at a news conference Thursday that Lang’s treatment “was shocking to see.”
He said body camera video of the incident will be released following a Texas Rangers investigation.
“I know people will be as angry as we are by what they witness,” he said.
The chief said, “The conduct shown in this video represents a failure of our department to meet the standards we owe the public. On behalf of all those who serve the Wichita Falls Police Department with pride and integrity, I am sorry for what Ms. Lang experienced.”
Wilson and Gulley have not been charged in connection with the incident.
A probable cause affidavit written by Wilson, a 12-year Wichita Falls Police Department veteran, said police were called to McDonald’s to bar a woman who was allegedly “taking a bath” in a restroom sink.
“When Officers arrested Lang, she refused to give Officers her left hand during the arrest and attempted to reach in her purse during the arrest,” Wilson alleged in the court document.
“When Lang was finally handcuffed, she refused to walk to the WFPD patrol unit and Officers had to carry and drag her out of the restaurant, and force her into the back seat of the Patrol unit,” Wilson alleged.
He wrote in allegations, “Lang continually used bodily force to push away from Officers and refused to get in the Patrol vehicle.”
Borrego said his department received a call from Lang’s mother that led to an internal investigation of the incident.
Wichita County court records show the WFPD requested on Thursday that misdemeanor charges of interfering with public duties and resisting arrest charges against Lang be dismissed.
Wichita County Jail online records show Lang was booked on the charges Aug. 26 and was released the following day on a $5,000 bail.
Borrego said Wilson was terminated in November following an internal investigation, and Gulley resigned Thursday morning.
He said in the wake of the incident, WFPD has expanded its training on responding to people experiencing mental health crises and enhance its de-escalation training, reexamine constitutional law instruction and reinforce the “distinction between authority to arrest and necessity to arrest.”
Borrego declined to say if the incident involved a response to a mental health crisis.
Borrego said he was aware of conversations about the incident on social media.
“We wanted to respond to it immediately,” he said.
He said police body cameras, which WFPD has acquired in recent months, “help us stay transparent with our community.”
(This story has been updated to meet our standards and add a video.)
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Borrego calls woman’s treatment ‘shocking’ as two officers leave WFPD
Reporting by Lynn Walker, Wichita Falls Times Record News / Wichita Falls Times Record News
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