IRVING — Two women arrested on minor traffic offenses in Irving say they haven't given up after their complaints against the cops who arrested them were quickly dropped.

The women, who had never met before the arrests, filed complaints after they were hauled to jail and their vehicles towed on the same day by the same officers. However, both women said their complaints were never fully investigated.

New questions are now being raised about whether police violated their own policy.

News 8 was only able to review one of the tapes from the women's arrests; Irving police said they lost the other one.

On June 28, Leanna Onstott, of Fort Worth, was driving a blue SUV when she was pulled over by Irving police Officer William Daniels. It was all caught on tape by the patrol car's camera.

While Onstott made a complete stop, she said Daniels told her he pulled her over because she failed to make that stop before a marked line.

The video shows what originally appears to be a routine traffic stop soon turns serious for the driver when Officer Daniels heads back to the squad car and his partner, Officer McPherson, flashes a big smile.

Irving Police Department

An image from the squad car surveillance video shows Officer McPherson crack a smile as Officer Daniels returns to the car.

Once inside the squad car, it appears from their dialogue captured on the video that the two officers may be looking for a reason to arrest Onstott.

"I'm hoping she won't find her insurance," he said. "I'm going to tow the car."

"Yeah," McPherson replies. "Arrest her and tow the car? You might get back something."

Just moments later, the officers approach Onstott's car and make the arrest.

"Do me a favor and turn around for me," Officer Daniels tells Onstott.

While she quickly concedes and turns around, Onstott soon gets a shock when she realizes she is about to be handcuffed.

"Hands behind your back," he says. "You are under arrest."

"Why?" Onstott says.

"Put your hands behind your back," he replies.

"What are you doing?" she says.

"Relax," Officer Daniels replies.

"What are you doing to me?" Onstott says once again.

"Relax," he says.

Onstott, who had never before been arrested, is then cuffed and placed into the back of the squad car. Her crime was not being able to show proof of valid car insurance.

Her alarm from the arrest could be heard in the shakiness of her voice while she sat in the back of the squad car as police searched her vehicle.

"I've never done anything wrong in my life," she said. "I have no record. It's unreal. Oh my God."

Meanwhile, the officers spent ten minutes searching her car, only to find nothing.

"Too bad there wasn't any beer in the can," Officer Daniels can be heard saying on the tape.

Two hours earlier, the same officer arrested Mikki Stokes of Irving.

"And I said, 'What did I do wrong?'" Stokes said. "And he said, 'You failed to stop when you were exiting that private drive.'"

A few hours after their arrests, both Stokes and Onstott filed internal affairs complaints against the officers who arrested them. But days later, the officers were cleared by internal investigators who determined their complaints to be "unfounded."

Yet both women said they were never contacted to give their sides of the story.

"I mean, how do you do a thorough investigation as an internal affairs office and not contact the people that this actually happened to?" Stokes said. "How is that possible?"

It was a question News 8 asked Irving police Chief Larry Boyd.

"In this particular case, their complaint was pretty straightforward," he said.

By contrast, when a complaint is filed with the internal affairs division of the Dallas Police Department, the division does contact the complainant. A formal letter is sent out advising the complainant of how their case will be handled. A detective is also assigned to the case. Finally, when the investigation is complete, the results are made public.

While Stokes and Onstott were notified of the results, it was by News 8, not the police department. And while it was determined that the officers did not violate policy by arresting the women, Chief Boyd said he does believe the officers made a judgment error.

"I think rather than a policy violation, what we had here was their philosophical approach to applying the policy was not what I would have liked for it to have been," he said.

But did Irving police properly apply their own policy in making the arrests?

According to the policy, "traffic violator arrests will normally be made only when the violator has no proof of identification."

Criminal defense attorney Robert Burns reviewed the records and the videotape and believes the officers were out of line.

"State law allows the officers to, and gives them discretion to, arrest for traffic offenses," he said. "But this police department has clearly set a policy of saying, no we are not going to do that, and in both of these instances they did."

Chief Boyd said his officers were, in fact, targeting guests attending a pool party hosted by a former felon.

Boyd said they wanted to "strategically disrupt an event or situation to prevent or reduce potential problems."

According to the arrested women, Irving police created a problem rather than solving one. Both said they will take their fight to court in the coming weeks.

E-mail bshipp@wfaa.com