6 March 21 - 27, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents ‘Isn’t Good Enough’ DPD officers receive written reprimand af- ter laughing atdisabled veteran. BY JACOB VAUGHN D yNell Lane, a disabled veteran, just needed to use the restroom early one morning in June 2023. However, he was denied access to the restroom at Deep Ellum’s Serious Pizza. Lane tried to show two off-duty Dallas police officers who were working security that night medical paper- work explaining he had a disability. But they, too, denied him access to the restroom. Lane called the police over the incident but had to leave before they showed up be- cause of his urinary and bowel issues. He eventually soiled himself. When two on- duty Dallas Police Department officers showed up to respond to Lane’s call, they laughed about the incident, which was caught on body camera footage. “So you guys made a guy pee himself?” one of the on-duty officers said with a laugh. The two off-duty officers have been identified as James Smith and Juan Figueroa Luna, but the on-duty officers have yet to be identified. So far, the reper- cussions for the officers involved have been slow to arrive. The officers were initially cleared of any wrongdoing until body cam- era footage of the incident was shown dur- ing an August meeting of the city’s Community Police Oversight Board. The footage attracted national attention and prompted DPD to reopen an internal af- fairs investigation into the officers. “The Dallas Police Department failed me,” Lane told the board in August. Now, those officers have received written reprimands and will need to attend sensitiv- ity training, DPD Internal Affairs Division Major Irene Alanis told the board at its meeting last week. Alanis didn’t have many specifics about the training, but said, “The academies will have to work with the assis- tant chief to see exactly what direction he’s wanting to go in and what training those of- ficers are to attend.” Texas and many other states have what are called Ally’s Laws, allowing people with certain disabilities access to employee rest- rooms in retail spaces when public ones aren’t available, according to KERA. Lane, who was deployed in Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq, was injured in the line of duty. He later had surgery on his lower extremities, the station reported. Alanis said the officers will be afforded the opportunity to appeal their disciplinary action. Lane had previously called for the of- ficers to be fired. The reprimand is a form of discipline that will go into the officers’ file but won’t affect their pay by default, according to The Dallas Morning News. It’s more severe than “summary discipline,” which entails advice and counseling or a supervisor’s report, the News explained. However, it’s a step below suspension. For some, the decision marks an unsatis- fying conclusion to a drawn-out investiga- tion that lasted months and prompted complaints from board members and the board as a whole. “Just know, this isn’t good enough,” board member Jonathan Maples said of the disciplinary action at Tuesday night’s meeting. In January, the board sent a memo to DPD Police Chief Eddie Garcia, copying the City Council, detailing its concerns with the investigation, primarily that it was taking too long. “The board perceives the progress and updates as unresponsive and lacking transparency, causing unease for the board, the complainant, and the residents of Dal- las,” the memo said. Alison Grinter, the board representative for Dallas’ District 9, told the Observer after last week’s meeting that the punishment was not commensurate with the officers’ actions. However, it may have been easier to swallow if it had come in a more timely manner. “Obviously, Mr. Lane wants these offi- cers fired, but I think that a written repri- mand would have been a more acceptable compromise if it had come in a respectably short amount of time,” Grinter said by text. “The delay here is really the tragedy. Also, there doesn’t seem to be a policy in place that will keep this from happening to some- one else and I know that that is one of Mr. Lane’s goals as well and I don’t think that’s been answered.” ▼ CITY HALL NO DICE? THINGS AREN’T LOOKING TOO GOOD FOR DALLAS POKER CLUBS. BY JACOB VAUGHN D espite ongoing litigation, the cards keep getting dealt at Dallas poker clubs. Even though the city has been considering how it could legally allow poker rooms to operate for quite some time now, it’s starting to look like the new plan won’t leave operators of poker rooms flush for much longer. Andrea Gillis, interim director of the city’s planning and urban design depart- ment, explained at a recent Zoning Ordi- nance Advisory Committee (ZOAC) that the City Plan Commission authorized a public hearing in 2021 to consider amending Dal- las’ development code “with consideration to be given to requiring a specific use permit for commercial amusement (inside) limited to a poker room.” However, Gillis said this use is applicable only to facilities open to the general public. Poker rooms in Dallas are generally private and charge a membership fee, so they can’t operate as a commercial amusement and would be illegal under state law, she said. The idea has been for the city to find a path to allow private game clubs to operate in Dallas while abiding by state law, which prohibits Texans from “keeping a gambling place.” According to state law, “A person com- mits an offense if he knowingly uses or per- mits another to use as a gambling place any real estate, building, room, tent, vehicle, boat or other property whatsoever owned by him or under his control, or rents or lets any such property with a view or expectation that it be so used.” There’s an affirmative defense to prose- cution under this section if the gambling oc- curs in a private place, no person receives any economic benefit other than personal winnings and, except for the advantage of skill or luck, the risks of losing and the chances of winning are the same for all par- ticipants. Under state law, a private place means a place to which the public does not have access. However, it excludes places like streets, highways, restaurants, taverns, nightclubs, schools, hospitals, and the com- mon areas of apartments, hotels, motels, of- fice buildings, transportation facilities and shops. Here’s what city staff proposed: Un- der a new land use, a private game club would be a private place open only to its members that primarily offers competitive gaming facilities, including games of skill, such as ax throwing, darts or shuffleboard. Any games played with cards, dice, balls, or any other gambling device as defined by Texas penal code are allowed only as acces- sory uses, meaning the facilities can’t be used mainly for these things. “It can’t be a main use. It can’t be a sole use. It can’t be a primary use,” Gillis said. In this scenario, members are defined as people joining the private club, and mem- bership must be for a minimum of one year and also be limited in number. Additionally, under this proposed new land use, all the economic benefits, other than personal winnings, must come from the main use. Basically, a prospective poker room would need to make most of its money from non-poker attractions such as the aforementioned ax throwing, darts and/or shuffleboard. Tom Dupre, a resident who spoke at the meeting, told ZOAC that what the city is considering is reckless. “This plan seems to help address the provisions of making these clubs private, but this model could be interpreted also as operating an illegal lottery,” Dupre said. “This land use seems to be a Band-Aid ap- proach to figuring out how to commercial- ize gaming laws that were designed | UNFAIR PARK | Screengrab/Dallas Community Police Oversight Board The reprimands took much longer to arrive than some on the Dallas police community oversight board think was appropriate. >> p8
