Civil rights activists and attorneys representing a Royse City family are calling for accountability after a police encounter at a neighborhood pool earlier this month that led to two arrests and an internal police investigation. The Next Generation Action Network held a news conference ahead of a Royse City Council meeting, where the family and its attorneys called for additional action against the officer involved. Civil rights activist Dominque Alexander, founder of the Next Generation Action Network, said an official complaint has been filed against the officer. “Demanding an apology from this city on the conduct of this officer,” Alexander said. Alexander was joined by Janiaca Wheeler, her daughters, other family members and their attorneys. They pointed to cellphone video of the encounter as they questioned the officer’s actions and the response of other officers at the scene. “When was the duty to intervene? Where were the other officers in this situation to say, ‘ Hey, you know what, maybe you should sit down for a second,” Alexander elaborated. “We have law enforcement for a reason. They are supposed to de-escalate situations, not escalate situations.” In the video, the officer is seen dragging Wheeler by her hair before she is pinned to the ground. The video also shows Wheeler’s daughter, Amiayah, being handcuffed and pinned down. Police responded to a reported disturbance at the neighborhood pool. Wheeler and her family said the confrontation began after neighbors questioned whether they lived in the community and were allowed to use the pool. “Their crime was swimming while black,” civil rights attorney Blerim Elmazi said. “They had every right to be at the pool. They lived in that neighborhood; they pay taxes in that neighborhood, they own a home in that neighborhood.” Elmazi said. Royse City Police Chief Kirk Aldrige declined to comment following the City Council meeting. He did, however, speak with Wheeler and her attorneys and said he would allow them to view all body camera and dash camera footage from that day. Shortly after the incident, the police department released a statement saying an internal investigation had been launched after police administrators learned about what happened. “When the police administration was made aware of the incident, an internal investigation was initiated. The charges on the two subjects arrested during the incident were dropped…pending a thorough examination of all charges…The officer, who is the subject of the internal investigation, has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.” Civil rights attorney Sean Daredia said those steps do not go far enough. “This officer needs to be fired immediately. That body cam needs to be released to the public because this community deserves to see that. They deserve to see what happened that day.” Daredia said. The Royse City Police Department promised a thorough and comprehensive internal investigation. This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC DFW. AI tools helped convert the story into a digital article, and an NBC DFW journalist edited it again before publication. ...read more read less