Dallas Civil Rights Activist Faces Accusation Of Domestic Violence
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Dallas civil rights activist Dominique Alexander has been named in a domestic violence investigation, headed by the Dallas Police Department.
On Wednesday, officials said: "an individual arrived at the Northwest Patrol Division and reported an allegation involving a Dominique Alexander. The Dallas Police Department Family Violence Unit is currently investigating the allegation."
Alexander is the head of Next Generation Action Network (NGAN). He has continually led grassroots initiatives of protest against police brutality claims, racial discrimination disputes and other issues.
Earlier this week, he stood with others against the recorded street beating of a transgender woman in Dallas. But Wednesday, Alexander's longest ally for police accountability, Jeff Hood, was summoned to Medical City Las Colinas in Irving.
"When you get a phone call, and you see clearly someone who's been abused, there's no getting around it," Hood said, while standing outside the hospital's emergency department.
Hood said Alexander's longtime girlfriend and mother of his two children said she was the victim of physical abuse. Hood said he took the woman to a Dallas police substation where she filed a family violence complaint.
Alexander, who spoke with CBS 11 via phone, adamantly denied any physical attack. "This was a dispute. I did not hit her. I did not kick her," Alexander said.
Olinka Green, a community activist who partnered with Alexander earlier this week to call for the arrests of suspects who beat a transgender woman in the parking lot of a South Oak Cliff apartment complex, said she received a phone call this morning about the alleged family violence.
"I stood side by side with him in the community, and to know he was perpetrating these crimes of abuse, if true, that is a sense of betrayal for me," Green said.
Dallas-based civil rights attorney Lee Merritt said he spoke with Alexander on Wednesday.
He said the police investigation brings serious questions about Alexander's presence on matters of mistreatment and abuse, but the NGAN leader should be treated fairly. "He's been a leader for rights, and he should be held to a higher standard. I think he accepts that burden," Merritt said.