A Royse City, Texas police officer was fired three weeks after a bystander video showed him dragging a mother across a lawn by her hair at a neighborhood pool. But the detail buried in the department’s own announcement is what turned a local incident into a flashpoint: the woman whose hair he pulled is the one still facing possible charges.
A pool afternoon that went wrong
On August 3, 2026, Janiaca Wheeler, 35, was at the Creekside community pool in Royse City with her 18-year-old daughter, Amaiyah Allen-Smith, and her sisters. The family lives in the community — this was their own neighborhood pool, and they were listening to music. According to the family and their advocates, an older couple at the pool objected, at one point questioning whether the girls even belonged there. A pool attendant got involved. Then somebody called the police.
By the time it was over, at least five officers were on that lawn.
What the video shows
The bystander video captured an officer grabbing Wheeler by her locs and dragging her, forcing her down onto the grass. Six of her locs were ripped from her scalp. Her 18-year-old daughter was handcuffed and pinned to the ground beside her while bystanders screamed — one voice caught on the footage: “Oh my God — let her hair go.” The video also appears to show a woman holding a child being shoved, and a shirtless teenager being struck.
Both women were taken to jail that day — a mother and daughter arrested at their own neighborhood pool. The charges against them were later dropped, pending an internal investigation into the officer.
Three weeks of pressure
The family partnered with the Next Generation Action Network and activist Dominique Alexander. Their demands were simple: fire the officer, apologize, and release the officer-worn camera footage to the public. The department’s first move was administrative leave — and it never released the officer’s name.
On August 20, the family was allowed to view the camera footage behind closed doors. Their attorney, Sean Daredia, came out of that viewing and said the footage is worse than the viral video — that it “tells a completely different story.” He called on the Collin County District Attorney to consider charges against the officer.
The firing — and the referral
On August 24, the Royse City Police Department announced the officer was terminated. Internal Affairs concluded he “did violate departmental standards, policies and procedures.” The news release praised the department’s own investigation and warned that interfering with officers will not be tolerated.
The same release cleared Wheeler’s daughter of any charges. It also cleared the three other officers who were at the scene — investigated, no policy violations. But it referred Wheeler, the woman who was dragged by her hair, to the Collin County District Attorney for resisting arrest and interfering with public duties. An unnamed person accused of striking an officer was referred as well. The DA has not said whether it will pursue the case against her.
The department has still never named the fired officer. Advocates with the Next Generation Action Network identify him as Robert Crider — a name the department has never confirmed.
What happens next
More than three weeks after the incident, the camera footage remains sealed from the public — even as the attorney who has seen it says it contradicts the viral clip. The Collin County DA has not announced a decision on Wheeler. And the fired officer’s anonymity stands in sharp contrast to a mother whose name was handed to prosecutors in the same press release that ended his career.
Wheeler is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty — the referral is not a charge, and no charge has been filed against her. This post will be updated when the DA announces a decision or the footage becomes public.
If the department’s own investigation found the officer violated policy — why is the woman he dragged the one whose file went to the District Attorney?
Sources
FOX 4 DFW · CBS Texas · NBC DFW · Atlanta Black Star · WBAP/KLIF · Royse City Police Department news release
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