Beaten by Officers

 

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2012

11/19/12 - Family alleges Houston police brutality during robbery suspect's arrest. The family says Houston police officers beat Aldemon Gabriel during an arrest inside the family's apartment.

 

01/27/12 - Annika Lewis, 26 and husband Sebastian Prevot, 29

Annika Lewis and husband Sebastian Prevot(behind her)

Lewis said when she heard screaming outside her home about 2:30 a.m. she found police officers punching, kicking and hitting her husband with a baton. She began recording the incident with her cell phone video camera, but one of the more than 20 officers in front of her home twisted her hand behind her back. Another officer grabbed her by her hair and forced her to the ground. Lewis said she was punched in the face before being placed in the police car. (media reports)

 

2011

3/17/11 - Chad Holley

15, b/m, unarmed, suspected of burglary was beaten by eight Houston police officers (named below) during his arrest. The officers were caught on tape kicking, punching and stomping on Holley who was handcuffed. The officers were put on administrative leave (with pay) pending the outcome of the case. Four of the officers were brought up on misdemeanor charges of official oppression - not assault. Those four Houston officers were indicted and fired: Raad Hassan, Andrew Bloomberg, Drew Ryser and Phillip Bryan. The video showed the most physical cop appeared to be Raad Hassan. Twelve officers were disciplined in the Holley case, most have been given their jobs back. (media reports)

Accused officers:

Sgt. John W. McClellan	sworn in - May, 1972
Officer Raad M. Hassan	sworn in - December, 2003
Officer Waleed M. Hassan	sworn in - May, 2001
Officer Philip N. Bryan	sworn in - December, 1990
Officer Drew W. Ryser	sworn in - February, 2007
Officer Andrew T. Blomberg	sworn in - February, 2007
Officer Gaudencio Saucedo	sworn in - April, 2002
Sr. Officer Lewis M. Childress	sworn in - July, 1988

1/22/11 - Norman Ford Hicks Sr.

72, b/m, and known to be mentally ill, dies of heart attack after being punched in the head by Harris County detention officer Christopher S. Pool, 25. Hicks was arrested for parole violation on 1/7/11; on 1/16/11, he was found to have soiled his holding cell with human waste. When told by Pool to remove his soiled clothing, Hicks threw his soiled shirt at him, and Pool hit him in the head with his fist. Hicks fell, hitting his head on a concrete bench. Pool and two other officers that witnessed the incident - deputy Joseph P. Jameson, 36, and detention officer Christopher L. Taylor, 32 -  left him on the floor, unconscious and in a pool of blood. The floor supervisor found him in this condition the next day, and Hicks was finally taken to the hospital, where he died several days later. Hicks suffered severe brain injury and a broken nose; autopsy describes his death as a homicide. All three of the officers were no-billed by a grand jury, but they were fired nearly two years later. (media reports)

 

2010

12/23/10 - Michael Young, a former Univ. of Houston basketball star, was hit in the head with a baton, wielded by Houston PD officer Brenton Green. Young was shopping with his young son when he was struck from behind by Green. Suspended for 20 days, with pay, and charged with official oppression, Green was acquitted by a grand jury. (media reports)

Also see: Excessive force charges against HPD Officer Brenton Green

 

2008

11/17/08 - Marvin Driver, Jr., father of Green Bay Packers wide receiver Donald Driver said that after he was arrested for traffic violations, officers Gilberto Cruz, Bacilio Guzman and Matthew Marin beat him, forced open his mouth and made him swallow cocaine or crack. (media reports)

10/2008 - Henry Madge

b/m, 27, beaten while handcuffed by off-duty Houston PD officer B.L. Hall. Madge was in the hospital waiting room while his son had surgery. After being asked to turn down the audio on his laptop computer, which he did, Hall soon entered the room and arrested Madge. While being led from the waiting room, Hall suddenly knocked Madge to the floor, then hit him repeatedly with his baton. A video shows no apparent reason for the arrest or the beating. (media reports)

 

2007

7/21/07 - Pedro "Pete" Gonzales Jr.

h/m, 51, dies in jail cell after being arrested by Pasadena PD officers Christopher S. Jones, 29 (joined PPD January 2007), and Jason W. Buckaloo, 33 (7-yr. vet.). The officers claim Gonzales resisted when they attempted to arrest him for public intoxication, and they struck him several times with their knees and elbows. (Gonzales was 5' 3" and weighed about 130 lbs.) A passing witness says she stopped her car when she saw the officers standing over Gonzales. "...he was just laying there, on the floor, flat on his back, and the cops were just punching him...he wasn't putting up a fight." When one of the officers noticed her car and began to approach her, the witness left, but stopped at a pay phone and called 911 to report the beating. The dispatcher said they could do nothing, and told her to call the police. Officers further claim that Gonzales tripped as Jones was taking him to the patrol car in handcuffs, and he hit his head when he fell on a concrete island. Once at the police station, police called an ambulance for Gonzales, who complained of pain in his ribs and legs, but signed a form refusing further treatment. He was placed in a holding cell, where he was found dead 6 hours later. A preliminary autopsy report revealed 11 broken ribs, one of which punctured his lung. (media reports)

In 2001, Officer Jason Buckaloo was charged with using excessive force on a 15-year old high school student by slamming his face into a wall which resulted in a broken bone when being apprehended, but a jury found him not guilty. Buckaloo's personnel records show he had a sustained complaint in 2001 and another in 2004.

 

2006

1/13/06 - Daryl Dwayne Kelley

b/m, 26 and known to be mentally ill, dies in Harris County jail after being tasered 7 times by jail guards. Kelley had been moved from his jail cell to the mental health unit; deputies claim he became combative, and they tasered him, holding the taser directly against his body. He was later found unresponsive, and was taken to hospital where he died. Autopsy report states there were abrasions and bruises on his face, head, neck, left hip, arms, wrists, hands, ankles and chest; other inmates say he was beaten. Dr. Britta Ostermeyer, a forensic psychiatrist and assistant professor of psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine, said jails have a responsibility to ensure that all mental health inmates receive the proper treatment, including psychiatric care, and should recognize psychotic behavior like what Kelley exhibited in his final days "not as a sign of being bad, but as a sign of somebody ... in need of help." (media reports)

 

2003

1/11/03 - Bobby Constancio, h/m, 35, suffers severe head injury when Harris County sheriff’s deputies Donald Tipps and Trevor Windsor, both 11-yr. veterans, try to arrest him outside a bar. Police claim Constancio fell backwards and hit his head, but his girlfriend said one of the deputies pushed him face first into a wall before he fell. He remains in a coma in poor condition.

 

2002

12/16/02 - Gary Don Powell II., 45, dies while in custody of unidentified Houston police officers, who had arrested him after witnesses said he was "acting strangely" and had broken out windows of a house. After coaxing Powell from under a house officers claim he "violently struggled" with them and they handcuffed his hands and feet. Police claim paramedics at the scene checked his condition immediately following the struggle and found he had stopped breathing.

8/14/02 - Edward Tilman McCraw, 38, died after a struggle with 8-yr. Houston police officer Brent W. Foltz (Westside Patrol Division). McCraw drank some beverages at a convenience store but had no money to pay for them. Foltz was in the store at the time and "began interviewing" McCraw. Believing he needed medical assistance, Foltz called an ambulance for McCraw who "became combative." Foltz claimed he was forced to restrain him, then McCraw stopped breathing and died.

1/20/02 - Luis Alfonso Torres (media reports)

45, h/m, beaten to death by Baytown police officers Bert Dillow and Micah Aldred, both 4-yr. veterans, and Sgt. Rodney Evans, a 12-yr. veteran. Family members called an ambulance and advised that Torres was in extreme distress from complications of high blood pressure; he refused the ambulance, whose crew then called police. When the 3 officers found him about an hour later they claimed they only pepper-sprayed and handcuffed him after a struggle. Paramedics treated him for the effects of the pepper spray and started to leave but were called back by the officers, who said Torres had “stopped breathing.” The medical examiner ruled his death a homicide, stating that Torres died from “mechanical asphyxia” with blunt-impact trauma. Interim Police Chief Byron Jones said the officers acted according to police procedures and did not use excessive force. Soon after Torres’ death, officer Dillow was accused of using excessive force in another incident. Photos show massive bruising on his head, front and back torso, and wrists, indicating he was beaten while handcuffed. (See autopsy photos)

 

2001

9/7/01 - Mark Dawson, b/m, 22, obviously mentally ill or under the influence of drugs, dies after a 14-minute struggle with Houston police officers S.A. Murphy and J.K. Rose, other unnamed police officers and Houston fireman Reginald Stewart. The incident began after he was seen, naked and covered with blood, in the middle of the street. A police spokesman said officers were trying to handcuff Dawson when he stopped breathing. Although an autopsy found no trauma that would have been fatal and that Dawson died of a drug overdose, a witness commented that he would have survived if police had let him sit up. Another witness said that she saw police handcuff and hit Dawson with nightsticks and that after he got real still the police just stood there watching him. She said the officers checked for a pulse several times before administering CPR. Another witness said, “everything they did to him wasn’t necessary. He was on his stomach and he was naked on the concrete.”

 

2000

8/29/00 - Homeless man taken by 2 Harris County deputies to secluded area, beaten with batons and told to leave town. (KTRK-TV)

1/4/00 - HPD officer Michael J. Patterson filmed by media as he kicks and slaps unidentified robbery suspect. Patterson is convicted of official oppression; assessed one year of probation and 100 hours of community service.

 

1999

6/20/99 - Leroy Baker, rendered a quadriplegic when Harris County sheriff's deputies break his neck, dies a year later on 6/6/00 from his injuries. Baker had been arrested on an assault charge and said a deputy began beating him from behind; he was then dragged to a cell, further injuring him. Officials have thus far refused to disclose any involved officers' names.

5/29/99 - Paula Kethley and Earl Kethley, assaulted by Pasadena ISD police Cpt. T.D. Harrison and other officers at their son’s graduation ceremony after Harrison refused to allow Earl to re-enter building.

3/19/99 - Alberico Escobar, unarmed and handcuffed, beaten by Pasadena police officers James Anderson, F.L. Schrock, and Mark Turpin while being served with a warrant that had been rescinded 4 days earlier. Officers cleared by grand jury.

 

1998

10/14//98 - Gerardo Carrillo, unarmed, assaulted by HPD officers J. A. Santos, David Zaharas, and additional unknown officers, as he waits for a bus. Officers immediately point their guns at him, then he is beaten, charged with public intoxication. Charges were dismissed, and he was released after two days in jail.

2/5/98 - John Emerson Thomas, 49, unarmed and unresisting, beaten and pistol-whipped during arrest by four HPD officers, not in uniform, dressed in black. Thomas was an innocent victim of a sting operation.

 

1996

2/21/96 - Jabar Watson, 22, HPD officer Alexander Moreira is accused of beating Jabar Watson, after pulling him over on a traffic stop. (media reports)

See also: (Moreira media reports)

09/02/03 - Moreira shoots George Corona;

07/21/03 - Moreira shoots Sarah Fay Mize; and

03/07/96 - Moreira kills Clinton Sparks.

 

1995

6/24/95 - Rudy Garcia, 50, beaten to death when a friend is assaulted as they left a club after playing pool.  A brawl ensued and off-duty Harris County sheriff's deputies Steven Deliphose, 38, and Robert Tovar and John Peterson, both 25, working security at the club, claim they tried to break up the fight.  But an assistant medical examiner testified Garcia's injuries were consistent with being hit repeatedly with a heavy metal object, like a flashlight, not a pool stick.  Peterson was fired for lying about what happened and for removing evidence from the scene; Tovar was convicted of perjury; witnesses saw all three deputies beating Garcia.

 

1994

6/3/94 - Darryl Robinson

37, b/m, dies of asphyxiation, two days after being hogtied and beaten by Houston police officers Joseph Romporti, John Leach, Melba Hogan and John Theis, and Harris County sheriff’s deputies Jeff Robinson, William Wilkinson, and Collier Bridges (now a Houston police officer) after shopping at Dillard’s Dept. Store; the deputies were working off-duty as security guards. Police and Dillard’s claim Robinson demanded $1 million from a clerk and resisted the guards’ attempts to restrain him while in a psychotic state. His family and a store clerk said Robinson only became loud when a store clerk refused to let him withdraw $500 on his ATM card. The clerk testified she saw deputy Robinson beat him after he was handcuffed and hogtied; another saw brown foam coming from his mouth as Bridges had his boot on Robinson’s neck and deputy Robinson taped his legs. A grand jury no-billed all the officers, but in a later civil trial a jury found Robinson’s death was caused by the negligence of the deputies and a store manager and awarded his family $800,000 damages plus interest. Deputy Robinson said, "I don’t think I did anything wrong…I think I did a good job." (media reports)

Also see: (Wilkerson media reports)

 

1995

6/24/95 - Rudy Garcia, 50, beaten to death when a friend is assaulted as they left a club after playing pool.  A brawl ensued and off-duty Harris County sheriff's deputies Steven Deliphose, 38, and Robert Tovar and John Peterson, both 25, working security at the club, claim they tried to break up the fight.  But an assistant medical examiner testified Garcia's injuries were consistent with being hit repeatedly with a heavy metal object, like a flashlight, not a pool stick.  Peterson was fired for lying about what happened and for removing evidence from the scene; Tovar was convicted of perjury; witnesses saw all three deputies beating Garcia.

 

1985

07/02/1985 - Tschirhart beats a handcuffed prisoner, cab driver Billy Dale McCollum, arrested for outstanding traffic warrants. Tschirhart says he struck McCollum because he was resisting and giving him a hard time. The officer is suspended for 15 days in April 1986, but an independent arbitrator later overturns the suspension.

Also see: (Tschirhart media reports)

 

1982

3/20/82 - Steven George Barnette

w/m, 17, beaten to death by Harris County deputy constable, Billy Hampton McCreight, deputy William T. Gordon and William F. Whigham. Steven Barnette died with a ruptured spleen resulting from the hours of torture and beatings. McCreight was charged with murder and first-degree felony violation of civil rights. The deputies were also indicted in the teenager's death. Barnette was arrested at the scene of several residential burglaries. After two criminal trials and one plea bargain, the parents of Steven Barnette received a judgement against the three. To date, the deputies have yet to satisfy the judgement against them. (media reports)

Billy Hampton McCreight

William T. Gordon

William F. Whigham

 

1977

5/6/77 - Joe Campos Torres (media reports)

23, unarmed, drowned in Buffalo Bayou after being beaten so severely by HPD officers Wayne Denson, Stephen Orlando and Joseph Janish that a booking sergeant refused to accept him at the City Jail.  Torres was arrested when officers responded to a disturbance call at a bar.  When the sergeant refused to jail him, the officers took him to the Bayou, beat him again and pushed him into the water.  He was found dead in the Bayou two days later.  His killers said they only wanted to beat into him a respect for the law.  They were sentenced to one year in jail for killing him, and ten years probation for beating him. 

Officers Denson and Orlando were tried on state murder charges. They were convicted of negligent homicide and received one year of probation and a $1 fine. Officers, Denson, Orlando and Janish were later convicted of federal civil rights violations in 1978, and served nine months in prison. Echoes of the Moody Park Rebellion