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A police oversight committee in Dallas is investigating four police officers after video shows them laughing at a disabled veteran that urinated on himself. The committee watched police body cam footage on August 8 that took place after two off-duty police officers at a Dallas restaurant denied him use of the bathrooms, the Dallas Morning News reports.
Lane told the oversight committee that the two uniformed, off-duty officers refused to see his medical paperwork after the restaurant, Serious Pizza, refused to let him use the restroom around 2:15 a.m. on June 10. The U.S. Army veteran said he has a urine and bowel leak issue, so he called 911, but the officers didn't arrive in time.
"Two Dallas police officers discriminated against me and declined to assist me in bridging the gap between myself and the Serious Pizza manager," Lane told the oversight committee at the August 8 meeting.
In the body cam footage, two on-duty Dallas officers walk into the restaurant and approach the two off-duty officers.
"So you guys made a guy pee himself?" One of the on-duty officers, a woman, asks the other officers in the video before putting a fist over her mouth as she laughs.
One of the off-duty officers says "yeah" with a smile. The other off-duty officer then slaps his knee as he laughs out loud after learning Lane called 911.
"He got mad you guys wouldn’t let him use the restroom, and then he calls back and said it’s OK, he doesn’t need to pee anymore because he soiled —" said one of the on-duty officers before apparently cutting off the body camera.
Texas has Ally's Law, which says people on the premises of an establishment should be allowed access to the restroom if they provide medical paperwork. Dallas Police Department Lt. Anthony Greer told the oversight committee that the department will have to "dig deeper" to see if that law was violated.
"We don’t condone that conduct, but certainly it was outside the scope of Mr. Lane,” Greer told the oversight committee. “He was not present, neither was anyone else present. It was between the officers there on scene.”