Rightfully punished or unjustly ridiculed? Ellis County sheriff video prompts questions
A detention officer in Ellis County was recently fired after smuggling contraband into the Wayne McCollum Detention Center in Waxahachie.
That detention officer, 24-year-old Quadtavius Ramone Donalson, was also arrested and now faces charges for having a prohibited substance/item in a detention facility.
But the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office didn’t stop there.
Department officials posted a video on their Facebook page Saturday showing Sheriff Brad Norman berating a handcuffed Donalson before unbuttoning the now-former employee’s uniform shirt.
“You’re a disgrace to every person that wears that uniform, every man and woman that worked their tail off in this agency,” Norman told Donalson. “And you’re a disgrace to the citizens that you’re supposed to be serving.”
Norman told Donalson it was “unacceptable” to bring contraband into the detention center and sell it to inmates, then Norman told Donalson the uniform was his.
A department spokesperson would not tell CBS 11, which originally broke the news of the video, what type of contrabrand Donalson smuggled into the detention center. Representatives with the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately return a phone call and email for comment from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram late Monday evening.
The video then shows Norman undoing the buttons down the front of Donalson’s black work shirt. The video cuts to a picture of the news release the sheriff’s office posted about Donalson’s arrest.
“The Ellis County Sheriff’s Office has awesome employees that go above and beyond the call of duty,” the caption on the video reads. “That being said, when one chooses to commit crimes and betray the public trust, they will be dealt with accordingly.”
The video has since garnered nearly 750 comments and more than 37,000 views.
Some people applauded the sheriff for his actions.
“Well done Sheriff, examples need to be made,” one commenter wrote. “Bravo.”
“Unless you wear a badge, you don’t understand how we feel about dirty officers, regardless of a jailer or an officer,” wrote another. “They are the same to me. People forget we as an officer have to swear under oath to serve, protect the citizens, the constitution and the laws. When you knowingly break that oath, we as any officer do not take that lightly. You make us all look bad. Unfortunately, one bad apple makes the rest of the apples look bad.”
Others called out the sheriff’s office for posting the video, saying they thought was unnecessary punishment.
“You know what else is a disgrace?” one user wrote. “The way this was handled! How about showing a bit more professionalism! Putting this on display like this is ridiculous and uncalled for.”
“I don’t like it,” wrote another. “The public humiliation is not necessary. It reminds me of long ago when they would punish offenders in the town center so everyone could watch. This is the definition of cruel and unusual punishment.”
“Lawsuit,” wrote another.
