By Aria Jones and Kelli Smith
Dallas Morning News
Reprinted – by Texas Metro News
Tomiya Crenshaw is suing two police officers over a crash. Whether the officers saw his wreck after they tried to stop him is in question.
When two Dallas police officers tried to stop Tomiya Crenshaw in South Dallas in the early morning hours of May 13, 2022, it was for a defective headlight. The ensuing moments ended in a fiery crash, setting off a series of events that would sully the cops’ careers and leave Crenshaw with severe, life-altering burns.
Video footage of the fiery wreck circulated in news reports, showing Crenshaw, 22, crash his car into a tree a few blocks from Fair Park. Sr. Cpl. Leonard Anderson and his trainee drive in the opposite direction seconds later. Bystanders rushed to the blaze, pulling Crenshaw to safety.
Why This Story Matters
Dallas police drew scrutiny in 2022 after two officers didn’t immediately help a man who crashed into a tree after a pursuit and suffered life-changing injuries. City officials argued the officers’ inaction eroded public trust — but new details raise questions about the thoroughness of an internal police investigation and who was at fault.
Dallas’ police chief publicly denounced the officers’ inaction and months later fired Anderson.
Two years after the crash sparked outrage from residents and top police brass, Crenshaw continues his fight for accountability through a federal lawsuit. Anderson, however, is back at work patrolling Dallas’ streets after an administrative law judge reinstated him during the city’s appeal process, having determined he did not violate policies he was accused of breaking.
Sharing his story for the first time publicly, Crenshaw told The Dallas Morning News he’s still recovering and has used a wheelchair or walker for daily activities. He said he wore shorts for the first time since the wreck for the interview with The News, showing scars that wrap around his legs, a lasting reminder of the flames that scorched his body from the waist down.
Now 25, Crenshaw recalls only glimpses: He was on his way to his girlfriend’s house when he stopped for gas, then drove into the night. Blue and red lights dotted his rearview mirror. Then, everything went black.
“I just remember waking up on fire,” Crenshaw said in late May as he sat surrounded by relatives at his attorney’s office in Frisco.
The News reached out to more than 10 people — Crenshaw, family members, his attorney, the two officers and their employment lawyer, the police chief, the administrative law judge, the city of Dallas and the police department — and obtained court and internal police records this year that reveal the events of that night and their impact went far beyond what was shown to the public. The News also obtained through a public records request nearly eight hours of audio from an April hearing with the city where Anderson appealed his firing.
The new details raise questions about whether Anderson should’ve been fired and the thoroughness of Dallas police’s internal investigation. Internal affairs investigations occur when city employees are accused of an administration violation. They can be opened when an employee is suspected or accused of wrongdoing. The outcomes can result in discipline up to termination, a form of accountability that can build trust with the community.
In the end, the crash ripped apart multiple lives and led to finger-pointing over who ultimately was at fault.
Anderson did not provide comment when The News reached out multiple times by email and phone. City spokesperson Jennifer Brown declined to comment in June because of the pending litigation. The 64-year-old officer has never publicly shared his perspective.
However, during the April hearing, the officer — who’d been with the department for nearly 15 years — said he never saw the crash and wouldn’t have driven away if he had. The officers tried to stop Crenshaw because of a defective headlight, Anderson said, but turned away after losing sight of him.
“I just felt like he got away,” Anderson told the administrative law judge.
While heading back to their police substation, Anderson said, the officers were alerted to the accident over police radio. They turned their car around, but by the time they arrived, bystanders had already rescued Crenshaw.
The same day Anderson was fired; his trainee, Darrien Robertson, also was disciplined. Eddie García, the police chief at the time, handed down a 30-day suspension. He reversed that decision earlier this year, the officers’ attorney Jane Bishkin said.
A police spokesperson confirmed this week Anderson and Robertson are active employees assigned to patrol. Anderson was rehired with full back pay and benefits in April, Bishkin said.
“He felt vindicated,” she said.
Public video footage
The city of Dallas declined in August to release dash-camera footage of the incident to The News and referred a records request for it to the attorney general’s office, citing the pending litigation.
However, video footage aired by WFAA-TV (Channel 8) in May 2022 shows Anderson and Robertson at a gas station at the corner of J.B. Jackson Jr. Blvd. and Al Lipscomb Way.
A car drives onto the street without a headlight on. Anderson, who is driving, and Robertson turn on their emergency lights and pursue the car, which takes a left turn on Meadow Street and speeds away. Anderson and Robertson turn off their emergency lights.
From a distance, the dash-camera footage shows the car approach the intersection of Meadow Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and narrowly miss another vehicle. The car’s brake lights turn on as Anderson says, “See that?”
The car appears to go airborne, then goes out of view. A brief orange light — which appears to be flames from Crenshaw’s collision — flashes in the distance.
“That’s his fault,” Robertson says.
Surveillance footage from a four-way intersection down the road shows the car nearly hit a pedestrian and another car, then crash off camera. About 15 seconds later, Anderson’s police car takes a right turn at the intersection, in the opposite direction of the wreck, the footage shows.
After about five minutes, a group of bystanders carries a person across the intersection, then lays the person down in an open space. Other cars stop and people get out to help.
Body-worn camera footage shows the officers return to where the group carried the driver. “Damn, bro,” Robertson says as he exits the squad car, then runs past flames to where paramedics tend to Crenshaw at the intersection.
About a dozen witnesses yell angrily. “What if that was your people?” one man says. “That’s not right.”
Crenshaw’s relatives told The News that some bystanders went live on Facebook, showing Crenshaw on the ground as they waited for emergency help. In one clip, someone yells, “He’s dead, he’s dead” — but Crenshaw raises a hand in the air, signaling he’s still alive.
Crenshaw’s loved ones said they started calling one another as recognition — and panic — set in. Is that Tomiya? they wondered, screenshotting the videos and zooming in.
The man appeared to be wearing khaki shorts, which they found out later were Crenshaw’s burnt legs. Scorch marks were on him. Half of his red shirt was burnt off.
“When I seen my grandbaby,” his grandmother Leona Eledu said in May, pausing as she took a deep breath, “I could not foresee May 14. It’s just unimaginable.”
When they found him later at the hospital, Eledu said, “he was just flesh.” He needed over 21 skin grafts, she added, and he had several broken bones — including his collarbone, arm, leg, hip and ribs, according to the lawsuit. At one point, Eledu said, his heart stopped.
“Once I’ve seen my nephew, that broke us down,” his aunt Tomeicka Crenshaw said.
Tomiya Crenshaw spent four months in the hospital. He and his family detailed how he suffered from hallucinations and endured nervous breakdowns. He struggled to eat and use the bathroom during his recovery.
“I didn’t think I was going to make it out of the hospital,” Crenshaw said during the interview at his attorney’s office.
“Now, it’s just getting used to seeing my legs and my body like this.”
A momentous hearing
In a small room in Dallas City Hall in April, administrative law judge Karen Washington listened to Anderson’s former colleagues describe the officer as reliable and well-rounded. Some officers said they would have acted differently that night; they would have continued to follow Crenshaw with lights and sirens off to ensure no accident occurred. Other officers said that tactic — “cold trailing” — is frowned upon because it can escalate a situation, noting Anderson’s actions were in line with training.
The hearing was momentous: It marked Anderson’s final avenue through the city to earn back his job. Former city manager T.C. Broadnax denied his attempt during the first stage of the disciplinary appeals process a year earlier. Robertson was not called to testify in April.
Anderson’s voice was steady when it was his turn to speak.
As Crenshaw drove from the gas station with his headlights off, Anderson said he immediately activated his lights and sirens for a routine stop. Crenshaw had been traveling at a normal rate of speed but accelerated, Anderson recalled under questioning.
The officer turned off the car’s lights to disengage before Crenshaw reached Meadow and Martin Luther King Jr. That intersection, multiple officers testified, is more dangerous than others because the street curves up, requiring slight turns to continue down the road.
Anderson said he saw Crenshaw’s brake lights come on, and at that moment, looked down to check that the car’s overhead lights were off. He didn’t want Crenshaw to keep speeding under the belief police were still following, he told the judge.
He said he did not see Crenshaw’s vehicle enter the intersection and go airborne. Nor did he see the brief flash of flames in the distance as Crenshaw’s vehicle crashed, he said.
“All I knew is when I looked up, Mr. Crenshaw was gone,” Anderson said.
He told the judge his “See that?” comment was in reference to Crenshaw seeming to show off for his friends in the vehicle, then suddenly braking to negotiate a left turn.
Anderson said he tried to turn off his body-camera, and said, “Motherf—-r got away” — seeming to believe Crenshaw drove off. That soundbite was played at the hearing but was not in the footage posted by WFAA that drew more than 43,000 views on YouTube.
Anderson told the judge he didn’t think his comments were being recorded because he believed his body camera was turned off, so he had no reason to lie.
He assumed Crenshaw turned left because the last place he’d seen him was on the left side of Meadow Street. The officers approached the intersection.
“I figured, if Mr. Crenshaw is going to have an accident, it was going to be … at that intersection,” Anderson said.
A construction tarp obstructed his view, he said, but he turned on his brights to look over the cross section of MLK Jr. and Meadow. No damage was visible.
Anderson drove the opposite direction from the route he believed Crenshaw went, making a right turn onto Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
“I was pretty sure that Mr. Crenshaw had made it,” Anderson said.
Anderson disagreed he should’ve continued to look for Crenshaw. He said officers are supposed to turn off their lights and disengage, which he did.
He drove to a nearby police substation for a restroom break, but Bishkin said within about 4 minutes, he heard on the police radio that someone had crashed a block over from the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. and Meadow.
The officers left the substation to find out if it was Crenshaw.
Once there, Anderson saw flames engulfing the car, which came to a rest south of the intersection. Further down the street, paramedics, other officers and the irate group of onlookers had gathered around Crenshaw.
Bystanders who witnessed the crash spoke to investigators afterward and at least one testified at the hearing. Shannette Mitchell, 26, said they had to “basically break his bones” to pull Crenshaw out of the car.Related:Dallas received $2.3M to remove lead from residents’ homes. Many are still waiting
“It was devastating,” she told the administrative law judge. “I’ve never seen nothing like that in my life.”
In the footage, Anderson stays quiet as bystanders yell at him and other police. “The law was chasing him,” one man says. A different man emphasizes the point: “Sir, they were chasing him. When he hit that tree and the car caught on fire, they turned their lights off and turned right.”
During the hearing, Anderson said: “I was upset, too, because it was a lie.”
Asked why he didn’t respond, he replied: “I don’t think that’d been the right time to sit there and argue with the citizens of Dallas, because it appears that their minds were made up.”
Internal investigation
In the weeks after the wreck, García, Dallas’ police chief at the time, said publicly he was embarrassed by the footage, but told WFAA the officers wouldn’t face criminal charges because they didn’t cause the wreck; the driver wrecked during an attempt to flee.
”It was obvious that something happened to the vehicle when it got to the intersection,” the chief said. “To me, that was the most disturbing part of that portion of that tape.”
During an internal investigation, Dallas police investigators concluded they could not prove Anderson saw the crash, city attorney Jennifer Brissette said in the hearing.
Robertson didn’t testify, Bishkin said. An internal affairs packet obtained by The News details his statement to investigators.
Robertson said he saw Crenshaw turn left at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. and Meadow, but did not see Crenshaw lose control of the vehicle, the car go airborne or the flames that resulted from the crash, according to the internal files. He told investigators he knew there was a possibility Crenshaw would crash, which is why he said, “That’s his fault.” His knowledge of the intersection, he said, led him to expect a crash, but he did not observe evidence of one when they drove up.
He said he became aware of the accident after they arrived at the police substation. He read 911 call notes indicating a red sedan was in a major accident at Meadow Street, he told investigators.
He believed it was the same person they’d just tried to stop.
He acknowledged he had forgotten to notify dispatch that they were trying to pull over Crenshaw, according to the internal affairs documents.
Dallas police investigators determined Anderson violated policy by disregarding public trust when he failed to fully investigate an accident, according to internal affairs files. Robertson faced the same violation as well as failure to complete a traffic markout — meaning he didn’t signal internally that he was working a traffic call, according to the police files.
In November 2022, García fired Anderson and suspended Robertson for 30 days.
Bishkin, Anderson’s attorney, argued at the administrative law hearing that investigators “felt pressure to find some manner of misconduct” because of García’s public comments after the crash.
She told The News the police internal affairs division did not interview the accident investigator who wrote the crash report and responded to the accident, which she saw as “a big problem.” That investigator, Sr. Cpl. Raymond Dominguez, testified during the hearing that it would’ve been reasonable for Anderson to believe Crenshaw “safely got away.”
“Why the investigator did not get a statement and an opinion from the person who was out there that night was a big question in my mind,” Bishkin said.
The allegation probed by internal affairs was “failure to render aid,” Bishkin said. Investigators later changed that to “failure to fully investigate” — which Bishkin interpreted as investigators realizing they couldn’t prove the officers saw the crash.
“They’ll never admit that, but I think that they did feel some pressure from the chief who wanted to fire them — and so they gave him what he needed to fire them,” Bishkin said, adding García erred in “passing judgment before an investigation was done.”
“Once you peel back the onions and actually look at it,” Bishkin said, “it’s not what it appears to be on first glance.”
García declined to comment on the case when The News reached him by phone in October, citing the pending litigation. He stepped down from his role as Dallas’ police chief last month to work in Austin city management.
In the hearing, Washington’s concluding remarks were brief: “I’ve watched the videos over and over. I even slowed it down and played it as slow as the computer will play it, and watched it again and again some more. I’ve reviewed all of the evidence that you have presented to me.
“I have reviewed all of it, and I have made a finding of nay for both counts.”
Washington decided to reinstate Anderson. She declined to comment to The News when reached by phone in June, saying it would be inappropriate.
After that decision in April, García reversed Robertson’s 30-day suspension, Bishkin said, which she hailed as a “very classy move.” Robertson also received 30 days of back pay, she said.
Lawsuit, city argument
In March, Crenshaw filed a federal civil lawsuit against Anderson, Robertson and the city of Dallas. His family hired Paul Grinke, who is employed by the law office of Ben Crump, a well-known civil rights lawyer who has represented many families of people killed by police, including George Floyd, Tyre Nichols and Breonna Taylor.
The lawsuit alleges police used excessive deadly force and were negligent, failing to render medical aid. Crenshaw’s constitutional rights were violated, the lawsuit said, and police showed “careless, intentional, and conscious disregard of their duties.”
Crenshaw is seeking compensation for his pain, suffering, mental anguish and medical expenses along with punitive damages. An “incredibly painful” part of his recovery included debridement procedures, or the removal of dead tissue to prevent infection, the suit said. Over 50% of his body had third-degree burns, some down to the bone.Related:Criminal probe opened after inspector report on Dallas County juvenile detention center
“It’s disgraceful,” Grinke told The News of Anderson’s reinstatement. “He gets to go back to work and go on about his life. [Tomiya’s] just broken. … He doesn’t get to go on with his life.”
The lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas was sent to a lower magistrate judge. The city argued there is no legal basis for the defendants to be held liable. Police did not bring a “felony or related crime” against Crenshaw in the crash, according to his lawsuit.
Grinke said the city hadn’t reached out to Crenshaw about Anderson’s reinstatement and that he hasn’t seen the evidence presented in the hearing where Anderson was rehired. He said he could not comment on the contents of the proceedings.
”We’ve been met with a stone wall ever since we reached out to the city,” Grinke said.
“If the officer testified as you relayed to me, the words seem inconsistent with what we have seen and heard in the videos published by WFAA shortly after the incident,” Grinke told The News in a written statement. “If the officers’ actions were indeed not in violation of department policy, I am concerned. And this is the crux of our civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court.”
“I still maintain vigorously that the city of Dallas is at fault and responsible for Tomiya’s injuries based upon the callous actions of these officers,” Grinke said, adding he is awaiting the opportunity to flesh out evidence in the crash.
Grinke said he’ll be addressing policies and training in court. He said he appreciates the Dallas Police Department’s efforts to improve trust in Black and brown communities, but said instances like what happened to Crenshaw take them back “light-years.”Related:Exclusive: Dallas Police Chief Eddie García says, ‘I’m leaving on my terms’
”Who watches somebody burst into flames and drive away, and they’re sworn to protect and serve?” Grinke said. “For the better part of 23 years, I have worked on fire and burn cases. This is some of the worst burn injuries I have ever seen that someone survived.”
Bishkin said it was the first time in 30 years of trying such cases that the hearing examiner “basically said the officer didn’t do anything wrong” and reinstated the officer.
“I don’t expect that lawsuit to get anywhere either,” Bishkin said.
An attorney for the city has also filed motions to dismiss the federal lawsuit. The documents assert Crenshaw was never detained, or even touched, which means his rights weren’t violated and he cannot bring the lawsuit, court records show.
Who’s at fault?
Anderson was 62 when he was fired and wasn’t yet eligible for his pension. Although he would later receive back pay, he suffered financially after the termination while taking care of his elderly mother, Bishkin said, adding “he struggled for a long time.”
“You can imagine how aggravating that is,” she said, “when you feel like you’ve given your heart and soul to a profession.”
Crenshaw’s relatives said they haven’t heard from police officials since the crash, only hearing what the chief said to news outlets afterward. They said they have adjusted their lives to care for him, but said the greater challenge has been his mental health.
If not for the good Samaritans, the family said, Crenshaw would’ve been left in the car as the inferno overtook it. Some of the bystanders who rendered aid were also injured, Eledu said, recalling how Crenshaw was so burnt his feet scorched one man’s hand as he was carried to safety.
When Crenshaw saw his rescuers for the first time in October 2022 at a party celebrating his birthday, he thanked them and cried, wrapping his arms around them in an embrace he wouldn’t have been able to form just months before.
“We will forever be in their graces,” his aunt Priscilla Crenshaw said.
Crenshaw said he used to enjoy playing football, which he can no longer do. His family said he loses balance easily and falls over. He now distrusts law enforcement and feels anxious when he gets behind the wheel of a car. His brother, who is a child, also fears police, his family said. ”I’m scared to put my life in their hands again,” Crenshaw said.
Crenshaw doesn’t feel anger toward the officers. As he hung his head at his attorney’s office in Frisco in May, he said he’s mad at himself for leaving home at all.
Pressed on why Crenshaw sped away from police to begin with, Grinke said he was a young man who made a poor choice because he was afraid of officers.
“He was just fearful,” Grinke said. “We will stand up before the jury and raise our hands and acknowledge that Tomiya has and takes some responsibility for his actions … but what happened afterwards is just unspeakable.”
The final arbiter may be the legal system.
Crenshaw’s suit has stalled. Before his legal team can move forward, a magistrate judge must determine whether the officers are protected by qualified immunity, Grinke said. The controversial legal doctrine shields police and other public employees from liability in civil rights lawsuits over actions taken while on the job and in their official capacity.
If granted at any stage of the proceedings, qualified immunity could result in the dismissal of the civil rights lawsuit. The lawsuit was sent to another magistrate judge in August, records show.
As of Friday, the future of the lawsuit remains uncertain.
| This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas. |
