Dallas Police Chief Eddie García fired three officers from the department on February 8.
Senior Corporal William McLennan and police officers Donnel Brown and Juan Lopez were let go in separate incidents.
Officer Lopez was fired due to an accusation of domestic violence in July 2021. He was arrested and booked into the Arlington jail on one count of family-violence assault.
The officer, who had been with the department since 2015, was placed on administrative leave following the incident.
Sr. Cpl. McLennan was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated in September 2021. He was placed in the Lewisville municipal jail and put on administrative leave after he made bail.
Officer Donnel Brown has been accused of theft under $100 for an incident in Plano. Few details are known about his case, but he had been with DPD since 2019.
The officers have the right to appeal their terminations under civil service rules.
García stood firm behind his decision to fire the officers.
In a statement, he said, “When we’re right, I’ll defend my officers, regardless of the outside noise. But when we are not, we will hold ourselves accountable and set a standard for this organization.”
Recently, The Dallas Express reported the firing of Sr. Cpl. Melvin Williams.
He is accused of using excessive force in three different instances.
One involves Williams punching a man five times while trying to diffuse an altercation last year in Deep Ellum. Witnesses were able to catch the incident on video of other officers having to pull him away from the man.
Williams was placed on administrative leave afterward.
In the two other cases, he was accused of using a 40mm less-lethal launcher on two men protesting in Downtown Dallas after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in May of 2020.
According to The Dallas Morning News, Chief Garciá decided not to comment on firing Williams. He stated it “speaks for itself.”
