Overview

• Body camera footage released this week shows officers handcuffing 41-year-old employee Jermel Jarreau Jones in costume as children looked on.
• Jones faces three felony counts: theft of a credit card, criminal use of personal identification information, and fraudulent use of a credit card more than two times within six months.
• Patron Michelle Allen reported unauthorized charges and told police she recognized a Chuck E. Cheese employee from separate store surveillance footage.
• Officers say Jones tensed up and tried to resist, and the video captures a mother saying her children were “traumatized” as an officer is heard replying that unhappy parents were “too bad.”
• A TPD spokesperson called the timing an officer-discretion decision, and the department has hosted a follow-up event with the restaurant and is working with management to reassess protocols.