Criminal probe underway into alleged El Paso police inappropriate dumping

An El Paso police official confirmed Wednesday that two investigations are underway after some police department employees were seen dumping boxes into a dumpster behind a local law firm’s building.

Surveillance video recorded by a camera behind the Wyatt and Underwood law firm in central El Paso showed a man and four women carrying and dumping the collapsed boxes into the dumpster behind the firm’s offices.

“What really made this a big deal was their attitude, they were just laughing and mocking me,” said attorney Derek Wyatt, who witnessed the incident. “They were laughing and giggling. One of them had a pistol, he had a holster on him.”

Police spokesman Sgt. Enrique Carrillo acknowledged that all five people seen in the video are police employees, but he didn’t disclose their identities. He contended the labeled boxes in question were improperly disposed of, but he maintained they didn’t contain any documents.

Carrillo said EPPD’s Internal Affairs unit was investigating, and he added that the Homeland Security Department was conducting a separate criminal investigation into the dumping.