Robert Clair Dye III in mug shots from 2013 and 2014


With less than a week to go before the Farmer’s Branch mayoral runoff election, LGBT North Texans and their allies are encouraging residents of Farmer’s Branch not to vote for candidate Robert Clair Dye III, noting that Dye has been arrested three times for DWI, according to public records, and in at least one case berated the arresting officer with anti-LGBT language.
His first arrest was in Lubbock on March 12, 2004, when he was a student. Officer Chad Demaray wrote in his police report that he stopped Dye after having observed Dye swerve and disregard two stop signs. After he stopped Dye, Demaray said, he noticed “a strong odor of alcoholic beverage.”
After Dye failed a field sobriety test, Demaray determined he was intoxicated and arrested him.
Demaray asked Dye if the passenger could park the vehicle, but Dye wanted to pull it into a parking space himself. When the officer refused to let him drive and told Dye his vehicle would be impounded, “he got very upset, calling Officer Osborn a ‘fucking faggot’ over and over,” Demaray wrote.
Dye was handcuffed and placed in the back of the patrol car, where he began banging his head against the center shield. Dye slipped the cuffs under him so his hands were in front and he unbuckled his seat belt. When Osborn and Demaray tried to remove him from the vehicle, Dye stiffened his body to prevent them from doing so.
After removing Dye from the car and placing him on the ground, the officers recuffed him and transported him to the DWI room at Lubbock police headquarters.
After being advised that he was being taped. Dye refused to give a specimen of his breath and refused to sign a statutory warning form.
Dye’s vehicle was impounded and his driver’s license confiscated. While being booked, officers found someone else’s driver’s license in his shoe and he was charged with this additional offense.
That information comes from the police report given to Dallas Voice, but we have obtained no additional documents yet that indicate disposition of the case.
Dye’s second DUI arrest came on March 28, 2009, when he was arrested in Dallas for driving while intoxicated and assault on a public servant.
Officers John Nash III and Albert Chacon saw Dye’s vehicle driving southbound in the northbound lane of North Henderson Avenue. After stopping him and determining Dye was intoxicated, the officers checked his record and found no prior DWI convictions.
After being told to put his hands behind his back, Dye tried to walk back to his vehicle. Nash grabbed Dye’s left wrist and Dye swung his right fist but missed Nash’s face. He refused to put his hands behind his back “and continued to resist,” the police report says. Dye tripped on the curb and fell.
“A/O (arresting officer) released A/P (arrested person) to put out an assist at which time the A/P rolled and struck A/O Nash in the left jaw with his right fist causing pain and discomfort,” the police report says. “A/O was able to pin the right arm and control A/P and he used a three second burst of pepper spray to get A/P to stop resisting and take the A/P into custody.”
Dye was convicted of DWI on August 18, 2009 in Dallas County.
On July 13, 2013, Dye was arrested in Plano. The police report doesn’t indicate Dye resisted arrest this time, but he did refuse to give a blood sample. A blood draw was taken after he was booked.
“Dye was very confrontational about the blood draw and advised that he was going to resist,” the police report says. “When several other officers entered into the room he decided to cooperate.”
On a background check of Dye, this arrest is listed as his second DWI. The Plano police report indicates it found a record of the Lubbock arrest, “but there was no conviction data available on the return.”
That indicates charges in the 2004 arrest were dropped, however the arrest is still on the record.
On May 15, 2014 and again on Oct. 9, 2014, Dye was taken into custody for violating terms of his bond.
In the May 17 election, four candidates were running for mayor. Dye placed second with 965 votes or 34 percent of the total. Harold Froehlich received 43 percent with 1,208 votes.
They face each other in the runoff on June 10.