Two Kingsville police officers are under investigation after being involved in an altercation at a wedding.
The incident happened on Saturday, July 26 at a wedding at the J.K. Northway Exposition Center in Kingsville.
Kingsville P.D. Officer Celinda Tatum was a guest at the wedding, while Kingsville P.D. Officer Vivianna Ramirez was working off-duty.
According to Kingsville Police Chief John Blair, Officer Tatum "shoulder checked" Officer Ramirez, and then a fight broke out. Two Kingsville police officers who were on duty responded to call made from the venue.
"During the course of the investigation, we learned as the parties were separated, as part of this de-escalation that we would do, Officer Ramirez was moved into a room to separate the two," Blair said, "From what we understand, it was very quick and the parties were separated almost immediately."
Investigators were searching for video of the incident, hoping to learn how everything unfolded, but their search came to a dead end. The J.K. Northway Coliseum told investigators they did not have footage, and they found Officer Ramirez did not have her body camera turned on.
"It was at the end of the evening, as everybody was leaving the event. So, she (Ramirez) didn't have her camera on," Blair added, "even if she would have had the camera on, the incident happened so fast that she would have had to push the button on the camera itself to activate the camera. It would have happened so fast, I don't think she would have been able to even activate her camera."
Detectives are also looking into whether Tatum was intoxicated at the time of the incident.
Chief Blair said there is an administrative investigation underway, and he contacted the Texas Rangers a few days after the incident to determine whether the officers should face criminal charges.
"Our job is to investigate the event as fairly and impartially as we can, and that's what we're doing," Blair said.
KRIS 6 News submitted an open records request for a copy of the police report taken of the incident on Friday, Sept. 12, to the City of Kingsville. We have yet to receive the report, but under the Texas Public Information Act, the city of Kingsville has up to 10 business days to respond or produce the report.
Meanwhile, both officers are still on duty. Tatum continues to work as a detective while Ramirez continues to work as a patrol officer.
"We expect our officers to act to the very best or expect the very best from them both on duty and off duty," Blair said.
Blair said he hopes to have the internal investigation wrapped up soon.
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