Frederick Frazier, a Dallas police officer endorsed by Donald Trump for a North Texas House seat, has condemned district attorneys’ efforts to prosecute officers for aggression toward George Floyd protesters.
Newly released internal affairs records show Frazier himself avoided penalties after allegations of abuse early in his career.
The 26-year veteran was investigated nine times during his first decade on the force for unnecessary violence after traffic stops or during other assignments, according to the documents obtained by The Dallas Morning News. None of the inquiries led to prosecution or punishment.
Police released most of the documents last week after reporters filed open-record requests in August. The News has been investigating Dallas officers’ use of force since historic protests in 2020.
In November 2000, five people said they saw Frazier tackle and beat a Black man after a foot chase. The man, Demarqus Alexander, said the officer called him the N-word and struck him in the head, back and ribs. Frazier denied the accusations.
The internal affairs division substantiated the abuse. But Frazier’s supervisors and the city manager’s office declined to punish him after he appealed, suggesting Alexander was “race baiting” and coaching witnesses.
In Frazier’s eight other brutality cases — at least six of the people were Black or Latino — investigators concluded there was not enough evidence to determine he used inappropriate force.
The documents shed new light on the record of the McKinney Republican who was indicted in June by a grand jury. He faces a felony charge for allegedly posing as a code compliance officer in Collin County.
Frazier campaign consultant Craig Murphy said the focus should be on the candidate’s award-winning law enforcement record. And Frazier’s lawyer said he has saved lives.
“This is a man who was at the tip of the spear in fighting drug crime for the department,’’ Murphy said. “And he was cleared in these cases.’’
He noted that the investigator in the Alexander case left the department under a cloud last year. In another case, the whistleblower was fired years later following allegations he took a bribe.
The cases renew questions about patterns of leniency for Dallas officers accused of abusing people of color.
This summer, officials quietly cleared Sgt. Roger Rudloff of using excessive force against a Latina protester during the George Floyd protests, despite photographs capturing his violence.
It was the 19th time Rudloff had escaped punishment for complaints of abusive behavior, racial profiling and other misconduct toward minorities.
“These patterns are concerning,” said Brandon Friedman, a member of the Community Police Oversight Board. “And it’s a poor reflection on DPD that it keeps Frazier and other officers with these records on its payroll. It doesn’t inspire faith in police and opens the door to serious questions.”
Dallas police officials placed Frazier, 51, on administrative leave shortly after the June indictment. The charges stem from a Texas Department of Public Safety investigation into allegations Frazier impersonated a compliance officer to try to force removal of his opponent’s campaign signs near a store.
The candidate’s lawyer has said that Frazier did nothing wrong and looks forward to his day in court.
Frazier is running against Democrat Sheena King for the House seat on Nov. 8.
Rookie years
In the five years after Frazier joined the department in 1995 working patrol and other jobs, he won at least 27 commendations for quick responses to calls, assisting other officers and displaying leadership, personnel records show.
Frazier was one of a dozen officers in the Southwest Patrol Division awarded the prestigious certificate of merit for making 85 felony drug arrests.
Some problems surfaced, too.
In summer 1997, Frazier’s supervisors found he improperly reported his overtime. On another occasion, they found he lied to one of his sergeants so he could leave work early on a day busy with calls. He received counseling and a written admonishment for the policy violations, internal affairs records show.
Beginning in November 1997, Frazier was investigated for three complaints of excessive force in eleven months.
Detectives opened one of the cases after another officer, Frank Hasty, reported seeing Frazier assault a Black man in a yard following a traffic stop and foot chase in Oak Cliff.
Hasty said he witnessed Frazier and several officers standing around the man, Mark White, who was lying on the ground after being tear-gassed.
He said Frazier put his foot on the man’s groin and called him a “mother f—-r.”
White later told an investigator he had been kicked by several officers — in the shoulders, stomach, arm and leg before he was handcuffed. He said he could not identify the officers because he was on the ground, blinded by tear gas. He did not recall a slur.
White said that after he was placed in a squad car, Frazier hit him in the jaw with his elbow, according to the investigator’s report. White said he asked another officer whether he saw the blow. The officer’s only response was: You should “buy Officer Frazier a six-pack,” the report said.
Frazier denied assaulting White. He acknowledged standing next to White in the yard, but said he did not step on him. He said his only remark was: “You shouldn’t have ran.”
Officers who were at or near the scene denied they kicked White, records show. The officers also said they did not witness Frazier step on White, use profanity or strike him in the patrol car. One officer acknowledged that he threw a can of tear gas at White but said the can did not hit him.
The case against Frazier was ruled inconclusive.
The report mentioned that White was treated for heat exhaustion. But an apparent description of his injuries was blacked out in the report.
The News could not reach White for comment. Six years later, the department conducted a sting operation on Hasty, the whistleblower, finding that he took a bribe from an informant in an unrelated case.
‘He’s beating him’
Frazier faced the accusation of beating Alexander and using racial slurs in November 2000. That incident also took place after a foot chase.
Five witnesses said they saw Frazier on top of Alexander delivering blows.
That day, Frazier was among several officers assisting a narcotics squad in making stops of suspected drug users, according to documents.
They pulled over Alexander’s car near Kingsley and Lancaster roads after narcotics officers alerted them that Alexander had left a drug house under surveillance.
According to Alexander’s statement, three officers pulled him from his car and slammed him against the hood. One called him the N-word, he said.
Frightened, he broke away and ran toward people he saw in front of nearby homes. Frazier tackled him on a lawn face down and handcuffed him. That’s when the blows came to his head, back and ribs, Alexander told investigators.
From across the street, a woman screamed. “He’s beating him, that’s not right! He’s on the ground, he’s not fighting back,’’ according to her affidavit.
Other witnesses signed statements saying they saw Frazier strike him after he had been handcuffed. None said they heard a slur. A man who later watched officers place Alexander in a squad car said he heard the N-word. He did not describe or identify the officer in his statement.
Frazier told investigators he struck Alexander three times with his palms to get control of him and handcuff him. Frazier said he never struck Alexander after he was cuffed or used any slur.
Internal affairs sided with witnesses and substantiated the physical abuse. Detectives did not finalize the inquiry until 14 months later, in January 2002.
Frazier received a reprimand. His lawyers insisted that was excessive.
In a statement at the time, Frazier said Alexander falsely portrayed him as being racially motivated.
His supervisors, including a sergeant who later headed up a Black police association, sided with him. They pointed out contradictions in witness accounts, questioning for example, how one person could hear blows but not slurs. The supervisors also suggested Alexander coached some of the witnesses because detectives said he had talked with some of them after the incident.
The city manager’s office withdrew the reprimand and said there was not enough evidence to sustain the allegation. Frazier received a written admonishment for not reporting his location at the scene.
It is not clear from the records whether internal affairs officials defended their finding of abuse.
The documents also do not reflect whether prosecutors were asked to review the witnesses’ allegations.
This week, Frazier’s campaign questioned the credibility of the investigator who handled the case 22 years ago, pointing to how he left the department last year. The officer, Major Vincent Weddington, retired after investigators found he allegedly tampered with documents in a 2019 homicide case.
Over the next four years Frazier was investigated four more times for allegedly using excessive force.
In a 2005 case, Frazier was among nine cops investigated over a Latino man’s accusation that he was beaten when Dallas officers assisted immigration and customs officers in a raid.
The man could not identify the officers. Frazier denied involvement, and detectives said there was no evidence he harmed the man.
Political career
Over the past 15 years, Frazier worked multiple assignments in the department’s criminal intelligence unit while partnering with federal marshals to capture fugitives, records show.
He has received 70 commendations.
In 2013, Frazier was involved in a fatal shooting. It is unclear what role he played in the incident. No criminal wrongdoing was found. The News sought records for that case in August, but police have yet to release them. The city attorney has asked the Texas Attorney General’s office to determine whether it can withhold some of the documents.
Frazier showed a knack for politics, climbing the ranks of the Dallas Police Association, the city’s largest police union. He became president in 2016. He now serves as vice president.
Frazier was elected to the McKinney City Council in 2019 and fashioned his platform as a pro-police, pro-tax cut, pro-business growth conservative.
He announced in October 2021 that he was running for the newly drawn House District 61, covering parts of McKinney, Frisco and other fast-growing Dallas suburbs.
Trump endorsed him in February. That same month, Frazier criticized Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot and the Travis County district attorney in Austin, both Democrats, for prosecuting officers this year alleged to have abused people during the George Floyd protests.
Frazier said Creuzot’s move to file multiple charges against two Dallas officers was a political stunt to help him win reelection.
“We need to be thanking these officers for saving downtown,” Frazier said. “But instead this DA and his office chose to grossly over prosecute them and it’s shameful.”
