Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Domestic Violence Response topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Survivor urges Glenn Heights to act after police report errors, cites fabricated statements
Summary
At a CPAC meeting, Ashton Earl described an assault she said was mishandled by city officers and alleged an ex-deputy chief added fabricated statements to her police report; she urged the city to adopt internal-affairs recommendations, expand training, and restore victim trust.
Ashton Earl told the Citizens Police Advisory Committee she survived an assault last year in which her former spouse assaulted and strangled her and held her at gunpoint, and she said her attempts to get help from the police were mishandled.
"My former spouse assaulted me, strangled me, and me hostage with a loaded gun for over 5 hours," Earl said during the public-comment period. She said initial calls to the police were ignored and that an internal-affairs review later found problems with how her case was handled.
Earl said the internal review found that a former deputy chief, Womack, "admitted to adding fabricated statements in my police report," and she described officers who "victim-shamed" and provided an incorrect incident number. She urged the city to ensure that every recommendation from the internal-affairs findings is fully implemented, to continue training officers on domestic-violence response, and to put safeguards in place so victims are treated with care, respect and urgency.
The City’s police chief told CPAC that the department had found failures in practice and that, beginning March 2025, officers will take an offense report any time a criminal act occurs in Glenn Heights regardless of whether the victim wishes to pursue prosecution. The chief also said an outside investigation and an audio recording were factors in terminating the employee implicated in Earl’s complaint.
Earl also raised concerns about whether prior cases may have been affected and asked the city to review past domestic-violence cases handled by the employees involved. Committee members asked the chief for data on domestic-violence responses over the past one to two years; the chief agreed to provide that information to CPAC.
