Security cameras inside a Dallas ISD middle school recorded the removal of a trustee by school district police last week.
The security footage obtained by The Dallas Morning News shows a brief exchange between trustee Bernadette Nutall and Superintendent Mike Miles before she is removed by three district police officers. Nutall said last week that Miles accused her of trespassing and ordered the officers to remove her from Dade Middle School. The video doesn’t include audio.
She was ejected shortly before a staff meeting took place at Dade to discuss the replacement of the top campus administrators and 10 teachers. DISD spokesman Jon Dahlander said last week that the meeting was between school employees and district administrators.
Miles asked Nutall to apologize for the incident at a community meeting Thursday. At the same meeting, Nutall asked him to apologize.
The video shows Miles talking to someone on the cell phone before police arrive. According to a Dallas ISD police incident report, Miles talked to police Chief Craig Miller and assistant chief Gary Hodges before Nutall was removed. Hodges, officer Jose Rodriguez and Sgt. Russell Rojas removed her from Dade.
The video shows Rojas and Rodriguez holding Nutall’s arms as they toss her from the main entrance at Dade.
Dallas ISD police said Nutall faced a criminal trespassing charge if she didn’t leave Dade. The incident has caused people to rally behind both Miles and Nutall. Her supporters assert Miles lacked the authority to eject Nutall and that he shouldn’t have called the police. His supporters believe that Nutall shouldn’t have been at the school and had no right to attend the staff meeting.
Police removed Nutall before the staff meeting started. She said last week she didn’t plan on attending the meeting and only went to Dade to encourage teachers.