A former Texas police officer is going to jail. A jury convicted him of abusing his power and gave him 300 days behind bars. They said no to probation.

Donald Najee Mercer was a Cedar Hill police officer in the Dallas area. On August 7, 2024, he stopped a 27-year-old woman for driving while drunk. What happened next cost him his badge, and now his freedom.

Mercer gave the woman sobriety tests and put her under arrest. She was drunk. He cuffed her and put her in the back of his patrol car.

What the cameras caught

His vehicle had a camera. The Texas Rangers later reviewed the footage.

According to the Rangers' report, the woman kissed the side of his neck while she was cuffed in the backseat. He turned his head and kissed her back.

Then he drove to the Navarro College parking lot in Midlothian. He turned off the car's lights. He switched off his body camera. He let her out of the back seat.

He asked her for sex. She said no.

She was drunk and in handcuffs. He was a cop in uniform.

The woman had also told Mercer during the stop that she had marijuana in her pocket. He reached in and took it. He never put it in his report. He never booked it into evidence. He later told her the weed had been "disposed of."

Weeks later she sent him a text. "You had the nerve to ask me to [perform oral sex on you]. You pulled over in the middle of nowhere to get me to do so. You know I can report you?"

She did report him. And investigators found the proof.

More victims came forward

At sentencing, a second woman took the stand. She told the jury that Mercer groped her breasts during a traffic stop. He turned off his body camera before he did it, she said.

Prosecutors also told the jury about a domestic violence call Mercer responded to. According to investigators, he told the victim in that case that he wanted to have sex with her too.

Cedar Hill police ran their own review. They found Mercer broke four rules, including not doing his job and acting in a way that shames the badge.

The CBS News Texas I-Team had started covering Mercer's conduct in 2024. Cedar Hill PD was already looking at him for a family violence call when the DWI stop came to light. He was arrested in December 2024 and quit the job.

The jury speaks

The trial ended June 10, 2026. The jury found Mercer guilty of official oppression. That is a law that makes it a crime when a cop abuses his power. During sentencing, they heard from the second victim. They said no to probation. They gave him 300 days in the Ellis County Jail.

"This was an egregious abuse of power," said Assistant District Attorney Christopher Schwieg. "The defendant was taking advantage of women when they are in vulnerable states."

The case was built by Cedar Hill's top cop Colin Chenault and Texas Ranger Woody Gosser.

Why this matters

Body cameras are there for a reason. They protect the public from bad cops. They also protect good cops from false reports. When an officer turns off that camera, one of two things is true. Either they made a mistake and do not want it on tape. Or they are about to do something they know is wrong.

Mercer turned off his camera at least twice to hide what he was doing to women.

Texas law says officers must keep their cameras on during police work. Turning it off without a reason breaks the rules in most Texas departments. For Mercer, turning it off was not a slip. It was the plan.

He is now in jail. His victims spoke up. The Texas Rangers built the case. And a jury made sure he did not walk away with probation.

The question that remains: how many other women had stops with Mercer that were never reported?