A Dallas police assistant chief recommended demotion for a sergeant accused of finding a sexually explicit video on a female officer’s phone and surreptitiously texting it to himself, according to department records reviewed by The Dallas Morning News. 

The records also show the allegation was first examined as a possible crime and the sergeant’s chain of command had differing recommendations over how he should be punished.

Assistant Chief Teena Schultz recommended demoting Sgt. Daylon Grandberry, a punishment only the police chief could impose. In an Aug. 3 hearing, a month after the recommendation, Chief Daniel Comeaux instead suspended Grandberry for 15 days without pay.

The records show officers in Grandberry’s chain of command recommended lighter punishment. His lieutenant recommended a one-day suspension, a major recommended two days and a deputy chief recommended five. The lieutenant is a man; the major and deputy chief are women.

The 15-day suspension drew scorn from the Dallas Police Women’s Association. After the hearing, the association issued a public statement describing the outcome as “deeply disturbing,” demanding change and questioning how the sergeant could remain in a leadership position.

Comeaux declined an interview request and did not comment Tuesday on the demotion recommendation.

“I made the decision in a recent discipline hearing and I have nothing further on this personnel matter,” he said through a spokesperson.

Grandberry and the woman gave differing accounts to investigators of how the video was obtained, according to interview summaries, investigative memos and statements they each wrote to internal affairs reviewed by The News. 

The woman also said the sergeant had repeatedly asked her out.

Grandberry told investigators the two Nov. 3, 2025, texts were accidental, records show. He acknowledged trying to delete them from the officer’s phone and later erasing the thread from his own. He described their relationship as professional and their exchanges as jokes and pleasantries, saying he did not know they made her uncomfortable.

Grandberry did not return messages seeking comment. His attorney, Robert Rogers, declined to comment on the case Monday.

‘I panicked’

Police initially examined the allegation as possible invasive visual recording, the records show.

It’s a felony punishable by up to two years in state jail and generally applies to recording or transmitting images of another person’s intimate areas without consent and with the intent to invade that person’s privacy.

However, the female officer, whose name is redacted from the documents, signed an affidavit of non-prosecution on Nov. 12. She wrote that she didn’t want to move forward due to “the nudity of the video that was sent.”

After the officer signed an affidavit, the department’s public integrity unit – which investigates most allegations of criminal conduct involving Dallas employees – classified the case as a “rejection” and referred it to internal affairs.

The officer told investigators that Grandberry asked to use her cellphone to play a game Nov. 3 while they worked at the South Central police station, the records show.

After leaving, she said, she discovered that a sexually explicit video of herself had been sent twice from her phone to Grandberry’s.

The officer said she then confronted Grandberry, who denied sending the video,  she told investigators. When he allowed her to search his phone, their message history had been deleted.

Grandberry’s statement to internal affairs differed from what he told the officer. He said he mistakenly copied the video while searching for a photo to use with the officer’s contact information in his phone.

“I panicked,” he wrote.

Grandberry said he copied the video and accidentally sent it twice – first while trying to keep the phone from falling and then while pulling it toward his chest as another officer walked past.

The officer disputed Grandberry’s account, telling investigators that the video was stored in a password-protected folder titled “Hidden.”

She acknowledged entering her passcode twice in Grandberry’s view, but Grandberry denied seeing or using it.

Sergeant, officer worked together for years

Grandberry and the officer had worked together since 2019 and began sharing office space after he became a neighborhood police sergeant in 2023, according to the records.

He also occasionally served as her acting supervisor, the records show, but wasn’t her direct report at the time of the incident.

Jennifer Atherton, president of the Dallas Police Women’s Association, said on Tuesday the officer was not a member of the association at the time of the incident.

When she learned about the case, Atherton took what she knew to the association’s board. They decided to go public, she said, because the conduct described in the case reflected a broader problem facing women in the department.

“That’s why we’re organized,” Atherton said. “It’s a huge reason.”

Atherton said the officer has since joined the association.